Efficient and stable solution-processed planar perovskite solar cells via contact passivation

Planar perovskite solar cells (PSCs) made entirely via solution processing at low temperatures (<150°C) offer promise for simple manufacturing, compatibility with flexible substrates, and perovskite-based tandem devices. However, these PSCs require an electron-selective layer that performs well with similar processing. We report a contact-passivation strategy using chlorine-capped TiO2 colloidal nanocrystal film that mitigates interfacial recombination and improves interface binding in low-temperature planar solar cells. We fabricated solar cells with certified efficiencies of 20.1 and 19.5% for active areas of 0.049 and 1.1 square centimeters, respectively, achieved via low-temperature solution processing. Solar cells with efficiency greater than 20% retained 90% (97% after dark recovery) of their initial performance after 500 hours of continuous room-temperature operation at their maximum power point under 1-sun illumination (where 1 sun is defined as the standard illumination at AM1.5, or 1 kilowatt/square meter).

Citation

Tan H, Jain A, Voznyy O, Lan X, García de Arquer FP, et al. (2017) Efficient and stable solution-processed planar perovskite solar cells via contact passivation. Science 355: 722–726. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aai9081.

Acknowledgements

This publication is based, in part, on work supported by an award (KUS-11-009-21) from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, by the Ontario Research Fund Research Excellence Program, by the Ontario Research Fund, and by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. H.T. acknowledges the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for a Rubicon grant (680-50-1511) to support his postdoctoral research at the University of Toronto. The work of A.J. is supported by the IBM Canada Research and Development Center through the Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform (SOSCIP) postdoctoral fellowship. F.P.G.A. acknowledges funding from the Connaught program. DFT calculations were performed on the IBM BlueGene Q supercomputer with support from the SOSCIP. We thank R. Wolowiec, E. Palmiano, D. Kopilovic, and J. Li for their help during the course of study. All data are reported in the main text and supplementary materials.