Enhancing the performance of planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells via the addition of functionalized silica nanoparticles
Trystan Watson a, David Worsley a, Matthew Davies a, Cécile Charbonneau a, Matthew Carnie a, Brian O' Regan b
a SPECIFIC, College of Engineering Swansea University, SPECIFIC, Baglan Bay Innovation Centre, Central Avenue, Baglan, Port Talbot, SA12 7AX, United Kingdom
b Imperial College London, United Kingdom, South Kensington, Londres, Reino Unido, United Kingdom
Oral, Matthew Carnie, presentation 051
Publication date: 1st July 2014

All low temperature manufactured organic-inorganic trihalide perovskite solar cells are now a reality, meaning that perovskite photovoltaics could have significantly lower embodied energy than more established photovoltaic technologies.

To date, some of the most efficient solution processed perovskite solar cells feature a pre-deposited Al2O3 scaffold. We have previously shown [1] that additions of alumina nanoparticles (up to 5 wt.%), to the perovskite precursor solution yield improvements in the device performance of planar heterojunction perovskite cells. It is thought that this improvement is achieved by the nanoparticles influencing perovskite crystallization and subsequent morphology, giving rise to better substrate surface coverage and less pinholes when compared to planar heterojunction devices - manufactured under the same processing conditions and without nanoparticles. This is evidenced by an increase in VOC with increasing nanoparticle loading and SEM images of the crystalized films showing greater substrate coverage 

In this work, we have substituted the alumina nanoparticles with 3-aminopropyl (3-oxobutanoic acid) functionalized silica nanoparticles (f-SiO2). We observe performance enhancements in planar heterojunction (PHJ) devices made with up to 0.75 wt. % f -SiO2 nanoparticles present in the precursor solution, yielding power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of up to 12.4 %, compared to the maximum PCE of 10.5 % in the equivalent PHJ devices made without f -SiO2 nanoparticles. The f -SiO2 functional group features a terminal carboxylic acid group, which appears to bind to the compact TiO2 layer inside a pinhole void. The performance enhancement arises in part from an average increase to VOC by up to 50 mV when the nanoparticles are present in the precursor solution and is attributed to substrate passivation by f -SiO2 nanoparticles binding to the compact TiO2 layer within pinholes formed in the perovskite film during processing.

 

1.  M. J. Carnie, C. Charbonneau, M. L. Davies, J. Troughton, T. M. Watson, K. Wojciechowski, H. Snaith and D. A. Worsley, Chem. Commun., 2013, 49, 7893–7895.

 



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