Chinese researchers have developed a new solar cell with a planar structure and an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate. It also has a tin (IV) oxide (SnO2) insulating layer, a perovskite layer, a hole transfer (HTL) layer, and a copper layer. It managed to retain about 92% of its initial efficiency after 1,000 hours.
Scientists at the Beijing Institute of Technology have developed a solar cell with a copper (Cu) back electrode instead of silver (Ag) or gold (Au).
“Copper, as an abundant element in the earth, is the most promising candidate to be an electrode due to its physical properties similar to those of Au and Ag, and it provides good stability at a low cost at the same time,” the research said. the group. “It costs less than 1/80th of Ag and 1/5500th of Au,” Chu said. “Copper is the most promising candidate for the PSC electrode due to its similar physical properties (i.e. conductivity) with Au and Ag, and its good stability.”
The solar cell has a small planar structure and consists of an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate, an insulating layer of tin (IV) oxide (SnO2), a perovskite layer, a hole transfer layer (HTL) and a copper layer. The researchers modified the Fermi level of the HTL to match the perovskite and copper electrode. They used a solution based on poly(triyl)amine (PTAA), a hole-transporting and electron-blocking material, as well as a Spiro-OMeTAD precursor. The Fermian level is the maximum kinetic energy of an electron at 0 K.
In the proposed HTL configuration, the energy difference at the HTL/Cu interface can be reduced to improve carrier transport.
“Similar to the cube effect, we expect that the perovskite/HTL and HTL/Cu interfaces will not be the shortest cubes during device operation,” the researchers say. “The balanced energy difference between the perovskite/HTL and HTL/Cu interfaces could improve the charge collection and transport properties of perovskite solar cell devices.”
Under standard lighting conditions, the cell achieved a power conversion efficiency of 20.10%, an open circuit voltage of 1.084V, and a fill factor of 78.77%, which the research team described as the highest efficiency never reached in a copper electrode solar cell. . The device was also able to retain 92% of its initial efficiency after 1,000 hours.
“This discovery not only expands the knowledge about band alignment of the adjacent semiconductor functional layer in the device architecture to improve the resulting performance, but also indicates great potential for the copper electrode for its application in the PSC community,” the academics said.
They presented their work inBalancing the energy level difference of efficient perovskite solar cells with the copper electrode“(Balance the energy level difference of an efficient perovskite solar cell with a copper electrode)was recently published in Energy Material Advances.
They concluded, “The present work not only expands our knowledge of finding balanced stripe alignments at different interfaces to improve device performance, but also ensures the application of the Cu electrode in the subsequent fabrication of perovskite solar cells.”
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