Design of Low Bandgap Tin-Lead Halide Perovskite Solar Cells to Achieve Thermal, Atmospheric and Operational Stability

Rohit Prasanna, Tomas Leijtens, Sean Dunfield, Eli Wolf, Jeremie Werner, Giles Eperon, Axel Palmstrom, Caleb Boyd, Marinus Van Hest, Glenn Teeter, Joseph Berry, James Raiford, Simon Swifter, Camila Paula, Stacey Bent, Michael McGehee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

269 Scopus Citations

Abstract

Low bandgap tin–lead iodide perovskites are key components of all-perovskite tandem solar cells, but can be unstable because tin is prone to oxidation. Here, to avoid a reaction with the most popular hole contact, we eliminated polyethylenedioxythiophene:polystyrenesulfonate as a hole transport layer and instead used an upward band offset at an indium tin oxide–perovskite heterojunction to extract holes. To suppress oxidative degradation, we improved the morphology to create a compact and large-grained film. The tin content was kept at or below 50% and the device capped with a sputtered indium zinc oxide electrode. These advances resulted in a substantially improved thermal and environmental stability in a low bandgap perovskite solar cell without compromising the efficiency. The solar cells retained 95% of their initial efficiency after 1,000 h at 85 °C in air in the dark with no encapsulation and in a damp heat test (85 °C with 85% relative humidity) with encapsulation. The full initial efficiency was maintained under operation near the maximum power point and near 1 sun illumination for over 1,000 h.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)939-947
Number of pages9
JournalNature Energy
Volume4
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-5900-75597

Keywords

  • hole transport layers
  • low bandgap
  • perovskite solar cells

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