Lioz Etgar

We report for the first time on a hole conductor-free mesoscopic methylammonium lead iodide (CH(3)NH(3)PbI(3)) perovskite/TiO(2) heterojunction solar cell, produced by deposition of perovskite nanoparticles from a solution of CH(3)NH(3)I and PbI(2) in γ-butyrolactone on a 400 nm thick film of TiO(2) (anatase) nanosheets exposing (001) facets. A gold film was evaporated on top of the CH(3)NH(3)PbI(3) as a back contact. Importantly, the CH(3)NH(3)PbI(3) nanoparticles assume here simultaneously the roles of both light harvester and hole conductor, rendering superfluous the use of an additional hole transporting material. The simple mesoscopic CH(3)NH(3)PbI(3)/TiO(2) heterojunction solar cell shows impressive photovoltaic performance, with short-circuit photocurrent J(sc)= 16.1 mA/cm(2), open-circuit photovoltage V(oc) = 0.631 V, and a fill factor FF = 0.57, corresponding to a light to electric power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.5% under standard AM 1.5 solar light of 1000 W/m(2) intensity. At a lower light intensity of 100W/m(2), a PCE of 7.3% was measured. The advent of such simple solution-processed mesoscopic heterojunction solar cells paves the way to realize low-cost, high-efficiency solar cells.

Lead halide perovskite is an excellent candidate for use as a light harvester in solar cells. Our work presents a depleted hole conductor free CH3NH3PbI3/TiO2 heterojunction solar cell using a thick CH3NH3PbI3 film. The CH3NH3PbI3 formed large crystals which function simultaneously as light harvesters and as hole transport materials. We performed capacitance voltage measurements, which show a depletion region which extends to both n and p sides. The built-in field of the depletion region assists in the charge separation and suppresses the back reaction of electrons from the TiO2 film to the CH3NH3PbI3 film. This depleted hole conductor free CH3NH3PbI3/TiO2 heterojunction solar cell provides a power conversion efficiency of 8% with a current density of 18.8 mA cm−2, the highest efficiency achieved to date for perovskite based solar cells without a hole conductor.

We report on accelerated degradation testing of MAPbX3 films (X = I or Br) by exposure to concentrated sunlight of 100 suns and show that the evolution of light absorption and the corresponding structural modifications are dependent on the type of halide ion and the exposure temperature. One hour of such exposure provides a photon dose equivalent to that of one sun exposure for 100 hours. The degradation in absorption of MAPbI3 films after exposure to 100 suns for 60 min at elevated sample temperature (∼45-55 °C), due to decomposition of the hybrid perovskite material, is documented. No degradation was observed after exposure to the same sunlight concentration but at a lower sample temperature (∼25 °C). No photobleaching or decomposition of MAPbBr3 films was observed after exposure to similar stress conditions (light intensity, dose, and temperatures). Our results indicate that the degradation is highly dependent on the hybrid perovskite composition and can be light- and thermally enhanced.

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVViewpointNEXTCurrent Density Mismatch in Perovskite Solar CellsMichael Saliba*Michael SalibaInstitute of Photovoltaics (ipv), University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, GermanyHelmholtz Young Investigator Group FRONTRUNNER, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany*[email protected]More by Michael Salibahttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-6818-9781 and Lioz Etgar*Lioz EtgarInstitute of Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel*[email protected]More by Lioz Etgarhttp://orcid.org/0000-0001-6158-8520Cite this: ACS Energy Lett. 2020, 5, 9, 2886–2888Publication Date (Web):August 24, 2020Publication History Received30 July 2020Accepted6 August 2020Published online24 August 2020Published inissue 11 September 2020https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsenergylett.0c01642https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.0c01642article-commentaryACS PublicationsCopyright © 2020 American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under CC-BY. This publication is Open Access under the license indicated. Learn MoreArticle Views13988Altmetric-Citations159LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail PDF (843 KB) Get e-AlertscloseSUBJECTS:External quantum efficiency,Light,Materials,Quantum mechanics,Solar cells Get e-Alerts

The inorganic-organic perovskite is currently attracting a lot of attention due to its use as a light harvester in solar cells. The large absorption coefficients, high carrier mobility and good stability of organo-lead halide perovskites present good potential for their use as light harvesters in mesoscopic heterojunction solar cells. This work concentrated on a unique property of the lead halide perovskite, its function simultaneously as a light harvester and a hole conductor in the solar cell. A two-step deposition technique was used to optimize the perovskite deposition and to enhance the solar cell efficiency. It was revealed that the photovoltaic performance of the hole conductor free perovskite solar cell is strongly dependent on the depletion layer width which was created at the TiO2-CH3NH3PbI3 junction. X-ray diffraction measurements indicate that there were no changes in the crystallographic structure of the CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite over time, which supports the high stability of these hole conductor free perovskite solar cells. Furthermore, the power conversion efficiency of the best cells reached 10.85% with a fill factor of 68%, a Voc of 0.84 V, and a Jsc of 19 mA cm(-2), the highest efficiency to date of a hole conductor free perovskite solar cell.