Effect of temperature on the efficiency of organometallic perovskite solar cells

In recent years perovskite solar cells have attracted an increasing scientific and technological interest in the scientific community. It is important to know that the temperature is one of the factors which have a strong effect on the efficiency of perovskite solar cell. This study communicates a temperature analysis on the photovoltaic parameters of CH_3NH_3PbI_3-based perovskite solar cell in a broad interval from 80 to 360 K. Strong temperature-dependent photovoltaic effects have been observed in the type of solar cell, which could be mainly attributed to CH_3NH_3PbI_3, showing a ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition at low temperature(T 160 K). An increase in temperature over the room temperature decreased the perovskite solar cell performance and reduced its efficiency from 16% to 9%. The investigation with electronic impedance spectroscopy reveals that at low temperature(T 120 K) the charge transport layer limits the device performance, while at high temperature(T 200 K), the interfacial charge recombination becomes the dominant factor.     

Multiple exciton generation in nanocrystal quantum dots--controversy, current status and future prospects

Multiple exciton generation is a process that can occur in quantum dots by which the energy of an absorbed photon in excess of the bandgap can be used to create one or more additional excitons instead of being wasted as heat. This effect has received considerable interest because it has the potential to significantly enhance the performance of solar cells, nanocrystal lasers, high speed electronic devices and photocatalysts. However, measuring the efficiency of multiple exciton generation is experimentally challenging and the results of these measurements have been the subject of some controversy. This Perspective describes the techniques used to determine the quantum yield of multiexcitons in nanocrystals and also details the experimental artefacts that can confuse these measurements and have been the source of much of the recent debate. The greater understanding of these artefacts that has emerged recently and the experimental techniques developed to eliminate their effects on quantum yield measurements will also be described. The efficiency of multiple exciton generation currently obtainable from nanocrystals and its potential impact on solar cell performance is assessed in the light of this improved experimental understanding. Whilst it is found the quantum yields thus far reported are insufficient to result in more than a modest increase in solar cell efficiency, an analysis of the expected performance of a nanocrystal engineered to maximise multiple exciton generation indicates that a significant improvement in solar cell performance is possible. Moreover, a nanocrystal design is proposed for optimised efficiency of multiple exciton generation which would allow its potential benefit to solar power production to be realised.     

钙钛矿ABX3型材料的结构与性质调控

近年来,钙钛矿太阳能电池由于其效率高、制造成本低、工艺简单等特点受到广泛关注,成为目前太阳能电池领域的研究热点。在钙钛矿太阳能电池中,无机-有机杂化ABX₃材料非常重要。它既作为光吸收材料,同时又作为载流子传输材料,因此它的光电性质直接影响到太阳能电池的效率。本文综述了调控钙钛矿型无机有机金属卤化物ABX₃结构和性质的几种途径。     

ABX3型钙钛矿光伏材料的结构与性质调控

近年来,钙钛矿太阳能电池由于其效率高、制造成本低、工艺简单等特点受到广泛关注,成为目前太阳能电池领域的研究热点。在钙钛矿太阳能电池中,无机-有机杂化ABX₃材料非常重要。它既作为光吸收材料,同时又作为载流子传输材料,因此它的光电性质直接影响到太阳能电池的效率。本文综述了调控无机有机金属卤化物ABX₃型钙钛矿光伏材料结构和性质的几种途径。     

Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) nanoparticle based nontoxic and earth-abundant hybrid pn-junction solar cells

A heterojunction between a layer of CZTS nanoparticles and a layer of fullerene derivatives forms a pn-junction. We have used such an inorganic-organic hybrid pn-junction device for solar cell applications. As routes to optimize device performance, interdot separation has been reduced by replacing long-chain ligands of the quantum dots with short-chain ligands and thickness of the CZTS layer has been varied. We have shown that the CZTS-fullerene interface could dissociate photogenerated excitons due to the depletion region formed at the pn-junction. From capacitance-voltage characteristics, we have determined the width of the depletion region, and compared it with the parameters of devices based on the components of the heterojunction. The results demonstrate solar cell applications based on nontoxic and earth-abundant materials.     

Recent studies on small molecular and polymeric hole-transporting materials for high-performance perovskite solar cells

A decade of significant research has led to the emergence of photovoltaic solar cells based on perovskites that have achieved an exceptionally high-power conversion efficiency of 26.08%. A key breakthrough in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) occurred when solid hole-transporting materials (HTMs) replaced liquid electrolytes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), because HTMs play a crucial role in improving photovoltaic performance as well as cell stability. This review is mainly focused on the HTMs that are responsible for hole transport and extraction in PSCs, which is one of the crucial components for efficient devices. Here, we have reviewed small molecular as well as polymeric HTMs that have been reported in the last two years and discussed their performance based on the analysis of their molecular architectures. Finally, we include a perspective on the molecular engineering of new functional HTMs for highly efficient stable PSCs.     

Polymer Donors for High‐Performance Non‐Fullerene Organic Solar Cells

Over the past few years, non‐fullerene organic solar cells have been a focus of research and their power conversion efficiencies have been improved dramatically from about 6 % to over 14 %. In addition to innovations in non‐fullerene acceptors, the ongoing development of polymer donors has contributed significantly to the rapid progress of non‐fullerene organic solar cell performance. This Minireview highlights the polymer donors that enable high‐performance non‐fullerene organic solar cells. We show the impressive photovoltaic devices results achieved by some of important classes of conjugated polymer systems in non‐fullerene organic solar cells. We discuss the molecular design strategies as far as developing matching polymer donors for non‐fullerene acceptors. We conclude with a brief summary and outlook for advances in donor polymers required for commercialization.     

基于4,7-二噻吩苯并噻二唑和异靛单元的受体-受体共轭聚合物的合成与光伏性质

利用微波协助的Stille缩合聚合反应方法合成了基于双噻吩苯并噻二唑和异靛单元的受体-受体聚合物HFTBT-DA865,并对其热稳定性、光物理性能、电化学性质和本体异质结太阳能电池性能进行了研究.该聚合物易溶于邻二氯苯和邻二甲苯等溶剂,具有优异的溶液加工性能.5%热分解温度为389℃,玻璃化转变温度为168℃,说明其具有较好的热稳定性能.对旋涂速度和温度进行优化,所得太阳能电池器件的光电转换效率为2.28%,开路电压为0.83 V,短路电流为-5.70 mA/cm^2,填充因子为48.9%.电化学性能和密度泛函理论估算结果表明,聚合物与受体材料PC71BM相近的最低未占分子轨道(LUMO)值及其平面性可能是影响光伏性质的重要因素.通过调控共聚单体或优化受体材料,器件性能可进一步提高.对受体-受体(A-A)类聚合物材料太阳能电池性能的研究表明,此类材料是一类潜在的聚合物太阳能电池材料.     

On the stability of a variety of organic photovoltaic devices by IPCE and in situ IPCE analyses - the ISOS-3 inter-laboratory collaboration

This work is part of the inter-laboratory collaboration to study the stability of seven distinct sets of state-of-the-art organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices prepared by leading research laboratories. All devices have been shipped to and degraded at RIS?-DTU up to 1830 hours in accordance with established ISOS-3 protocols under defined illumination conditions. In this work, we apply the Incident Photon-to-Electron Conversion Efficiency (IPCE) and the in situ IPCE techniques to determine the relation between solar cell performance and solar cell stability. Different ageing conditions were considered: accelerated full sun simulation, low level indoor fluorescent lighting and dark storage. The devices were also monitored under conditions of ambient and inert (N(2)) atmospheres, which allows for the identification of the solar cell materials more susceptible to degradation by ambient air (oxygen and moisture). The different OPVs configurations permitted the study of the intrinsic stability of the devices depending on: two different ITO-replacement alternatives, two different hole extraction layers (PEDOT:PSS and MoO(3)), and two different P3HT-based polymers. The response of un-encapsulated devices to ambient atmosphere offered insight into the importance of moisture in solar cell performance. Our results demonstrate that the IPCE and the in situ IPCE techniques are valuable analytical methods to understand device degradation and solar cell lifetime.     

Development of small-molecule materials for high-performance organic solar cells

With the rapid development in recent years, small-molecule organic solar cell is challenging the dominance of its counterpart, polymer solar cell. The top power conversion efficiencies of both single and tandem solar cells based on small molecules have surpassed 9%. In this mini review, achievements of small molecules with impressive photovoltaic performance especially reported in the last two years were highlighted. The relationship between molecular structure and device performance was analyzed, which draws some rules for rational molecular design. Five series of p- and n-type small molecules were selected based on the consideration of their competitiveness of power conversion efficiencies.     

Exciton dynamics in alternating polyfluorene/fullerene blends

Exciton dynamics in alternating copolymer/fullerene solar cell blends have been investigated using femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. The acceptor concentrations have been varied over a wide range. Experimental data, kinetic modeling and simulations, all indicate that the efficiency of exciton conversion to charges is 100% even at acceptor concentrations as low as 20 wt%. The reported dependence of solar cell efficiency on fullerene concentration may thus arise from other factors. However, there exists an acceptor concentration threshold (5 wt%) below which a substantial fraction of the excitations remain unquenched. The results, we believe are very relevant to optimization of performance efficiency by clever manipulation of morphology. We have also observed exciton–exciton energy transfer in these blends at low acceptor concentrations.     

Near Infrared Organic Semiconducting Materials for Bulk Heterojunction and Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

Dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells have been the subject of intensive academic interest over the past two decades, and significant commercial effort has been directed towards this area with the vison of developing the next generation of low cost solar cells. Materials development has played a vital role in the dramatic improvement of both DSSC and BHJ solar cell performance in the recent years. Organic conjugated polymers and small molecules that absorb solar light in the visible and near infrared (NIR) regions represent a class of emering materials and show a great potential for the use of different optoelectronic devices such as DSSCs and BHJ solar cells. This account describes the emering class of near infrared (NIR) organic polymers and small molecules having donor and acceptors units, and explores their potential applications in the DSSCs and BHJ solar cells.     

Molecular adsorption-mediated control over the electrical characteristics of polycrystalline CdTe/CdS solar cells.

The effect of surface treatments on p-CdTe/n-CdS solar cell performance was examined. Adsorption of organic molecules with various magnitudes and directions of the dipole moment on p-CdTe resulted in controlled changes in electron affinity and surface bond bending. Similar adsorption on CdTe in state-of-the-art p-CdTe/n-CdS solar cells changes the cell performance, and we explain this by a combination of increased series resistance and changes in light absorption and in cell photovoltage. While at this stage no improvement in performance has been found with these cell structures, which are the result of years of empirical optimization, the molecular effect on the photovoltage shows that it is possible in this way to control the photovoltaic effect at this junction. Separate optimization may well lead to improvement by inserting a dipole layer near the photovoltaic interface. Our results also show that this is even possible when dipole adsorption is performed on the complete polycrystalline thin-film cell.     

Improved perovskite solar cell efficiency by tuning the colloidal size and free ion concentration in precursor solution using formic acid additive

Improving the quality of the perovskite active layer is crucial to obtaining high performance perovskite solar cells(PSCs). In this work, by introducing formic acid into the formamidinium lead iodide(FAPbI3)precursor solution, we managed to achieve reduced colloidal size in the solution, leading to more uniform deposition of FAPbI3 film with lower trap state density and higher carrier mobility. The solar cells based on the FAPbI3 absorber layer modified with formic acid show significantly better photovoltaic performance than that on the reference FAPbI3 film without formic acid. The device performance shows a close correlation with the colloidal size. Within the range studied from 6.7 to 1.0 nm, the smaller the colloidal size is, the higher the solar cell efficiency. More specifically, the cell efficiency is improved from17.82% for the control cell without formic acid to 19.81% when 0.764 M formic acid was used. Formic acid has also been added into a CH_3NH_3PbI_3(MAPbI_3) precursor solution, which exhibits a similar effect on the resulting MAPb I3 films and solar cells, with efficiency improved from 16.07% to 17.00%.     

Photoinduced charge carrier dynamics of Zn-porphyrin-TiO2 electrodes: the key role of charge recombination for solar cell performance

Time resolved absorption spectroscopy has been used to study photoinduced electron injection and charge recombination in Zn-porphyrin sensitized nanostructured TiO(2) electrodes. The electron transfer dynamics is correlated to the performance of dye sensitized solar cells based on the same electrodes. We find that the dye/semiconductor binding can be described with a heterogeneous geometry where the Zn-porphyrin molecules are attached to the TiO(2) surface with a distribution of tilt angles. The binding angle determines the porphyrin-semiconductor electron transfer distance and charge transfer occurs through space, rather than through the bridge connecting the porphyrin to the surface. For short sensitization times (1 h), there is a direct correlation between solar cell efficiency and amplitude of the kinetic component due to long-lived conduction band electrons, once variations in light harvesting (surface coverage) have been taken into account. Long sensitization time (12 h) results in decreased solar cell efficiency because of decreased efficiency of electron injection.     

Peripherally and Axially Carboxylic Acid Substituted Subphthalocyanines for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

A series of subphthalocyanines (SubPcs) bearing a carboxylic acid group either at the peripheral or axial position have been designed and synthesized to investigate the influence of the COOH group positions on the dye‐sensitized solar cell (DSSC) performance. The DSSC devices based on SubPcs with axially substituted carboxylic acid groups showed low photovoltaic performance, whereas peripherally substituted one exhibited higher power conversion efficiency owing to improved injection from LUMO of SubPcs to the TiO₂ conduction band.     

Cd基化合物纳米晶-有机聚合物杂化太阳能电池研究进展

有机-无机杂化太阳能电池因其结合了有机材料和无机材料各自的优势而引起了人们的广泛关注和研究. Cd基化合物纳米晶因其具有制备方法简单、尺寸及形貌可控、载流子迁移率高和稳定性好等优点而成为最早被研究的一类无机受体. 本文介绍了有机-无机杂化太阳能电池的结构及原理, 分析了影响有机-无机杂化太阳能电池效率的三个主要因素, 分别是开路电压(V_oc)、短路电流(J_sc)和填充因子(FF). 从改善Cd基化合物纳米晶的合成方法, 增加Cd基化合物纳米晶和有机聚合物间的界面接触, 以及优化Cd基化合物纳米晶和有机聚合物所用溶剂和所占比例等方面阐述了近年来Cd基化合物纳米晶-有机聚合物杂化太阳能电池的研究进展. 并展望了Cd基化合物纳米晶-有机聚合物杂化太阳能电池的发展方向.     

Fine-tuning of polymer photovoltaic properties by the length of alkyl side chains

This paper reports the synthesis and characteristics of a series of alkyl-substituted planar polymers. The physical properties are carefully tuned to optimize their photovoltaic performance. Depending on the length of soluble alkyl side chains which modify the structural order and orientation substantially in polymer backbones, the device performance can be improved significantly. The tuning of HOMO energy levels optimized polymers’ spectral coverage of absorption and their hole mobility, as well as miscibility with fullerene; all these efforts enhanced polymer solar cell performances. The shortcircuit current, Jsc for polymer solar cells was increased by adjusting polymer chain packing ability. It was found that films with well distributed polymer/fullerene interpenetrating network exhibit improved solar cell conversion efficiency. Enhanced efficiency up to 5.8% has been demonstrated. The results provide important insights about the roles of flexile chains in structure-property relationship for the design of new polymers to be used in high efficient solar cells.