Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Efficient inorganic–organic hybrid heterojunction solar cells containing perovskite compound and polymeric hole conductors

Nature Photonics volume 7, pages 486–491 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Inorganic–organic hybrid structures have become innovative alternatives for next-generation dye-sensitized solar cells, because they combine the advantages of both systems. Here, we introduce a layered sandwich-type architecture, the core of which comprises a bicontinuous three-dimensional nanocomposite of mesoporous (mp)-TiO2, with CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite as light harvester, as well as a polymeric hole conductor. This platform creates new opportunities for the development of low-cost, solution-processed, high-efficiency solar cells. The use of a polymeric hole conductor, especially poly-triarylamine, substantially improves the open-circuit voltage Voc and fill factor of the cells. Solar cells based on these inorganic–organic hybrids exhibit a short-circuit current density Jsc of 16.5 mA cm−2, Voc of 0.997 V and fill factor of 0.727, yielding a power conversion efficiency of 12.0% under standard AM 1.5 conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: SEM images, general scheme and energy level diagram of a cell.
Figure 2: J–V, diffuse reflectance and IPCE characteristics.
Figure 3: J–V and IPCE characteristics for the best cells, and reproducibility.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Green, M. A., Emery, K., Hishikawa, Y., Warta, W. & Dunlop, E. D. Solar cell efficiency tables (version 39). Prog. Photovolt. Res. Appl. 20, 12–20 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. O'Regan, B. & Grätzel, M. A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloid TiO2 films. Nature 353, 737–740 (1991).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Yella, A. et al. Porphyrin-sensitized solar cells with cobalt (II/III)-based redox electrolyte exceed 12 percent efficiency. Science 334, 629–634 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Chung, I. et al. All-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells with high efficiency. Nature 485, 486–489 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Zhang, W. et al. High-performance solid-state organic dye sensitized solar cells with P3HT as hole transporter. J. Phys. Chem. C 115, 7038–7043 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Burschka, J. et al. Tris(2-(1H-pyrazol-1-yl)pyridine)cobalt(III) as p-type dopant for organic semiconductors and its application in highly efficient solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133, 18042–18045 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Mora-Sero, I. & Bisquert, J. Breakthroughs in the development of semiconductor-sensitized solar cells. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 1, 3046–3052 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Sun, J. & Goldys, E. M. Linear absorption and molar extinction coefficients in direct semiconductor quantum dots. J. Phys. Chem. C 112, 9261–9266 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hanewinkel, B., Knorr, A., Thomas, P. & Koch, S. W. Optical near-field response of semiconductor quantum dots. Phys. Rev. B 55, 13715–13725 (1997).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Chang, J. A. et al. High-performance nanostructured inorganic–organic heterojunction solar cells. Nano Lett. 10, 2609–2612 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Im, S. H. et al. All solid state multiply layered PbS colloidal quantum-dot-sensitized photovoltaic cells. Energy Environ. Sci. 4, 4181–4186 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Im, S. H. et al. Toward interaction of sensitizer and functional moieties in hole-transporting materials for efficient semiconductor-sensitized solar cells. Nano Lett. 11, 4789–4793 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Chang, J. A. et al. Panchromatic photon-harvesting by hole-conducting materials in inorganic–organic heterojunction sensitized-solar cell through the formation of nanostructured electron channels. Nano Lett. 12, 1863–1867 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Boix, P. P. et al. From flat to nanostructured photovoltaics: balance between thickness of the absorber and charge screening in sensitized solar cells. ACS Nano 6, 873–880 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Kojima, A., Teshima, K., Shirai, Y. & Miyasaka, T. Organometal halide perovskites as visible-light sensitizers for photovoltaic cells. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 6050–6051 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Im, J.-H. et al. 6.5% efficient perovskite quantum-dot-sensitized solar cell. Nanoscale 3, 4088–4093 (2011).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Kim, H.-S. et al. Lead iodide perovskite sensitized all-solid-state submicron thin film mesoscopic solar cell with efficiency exceeding 9%. Sci. Rep. 2, 591 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Lee, M. M. et al. Efficient hybrid solar cells based on meso-superstructured organometal halide perovskites, Science 338, 643–647 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Ziyong Cheng, Z. & Lin, J. Layered organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites: structure, optical properties, film preparation, patterning and templating engineering. CrystEngComm 12, 2646–2662 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Etgar, L. et al. Mesoscopic CH3NH3PbI3/TiO2 heterojunction solar cells, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134, 17396–17399 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Nanu, M., Schoonman, J. & Goossens, A. Nanocomposite three-dimensional solar cells obtained by chemical spray deposition. Nano Lett. 5, 1716–1719 (2005).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Zhang, W. et al. Systematic improvement in charge carrier mobility of air stable triarylamine copolymers. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 10814–10815 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Ebadian, S. et al. Effects of annealing and degradation on regioregular polythiophene-based bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic devices. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 94, 2258–2264 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Namkoong, G., Boland, P., Lee, K. & Dean, J. Design of organic tandem solar cells using PCPDTBT:PC61BM and P3HT:PC71BM. J. Appl. Phys. 107, 124515 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. Kim, B. et al. A selenophene analogue of PCDTBT: selective fine-tuning of LUMO to lower the bandgap for efficient polymer solar cells. Macromolecules 45, 8658–8664 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  26. Shen, L. et al. Performance improvement of TiO2/P3HT solar cells using CuPc as a sensitizer. Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 073307 (2008).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  27. Morana, M. et al. Bipolar charge transport in PCPDTBT-PCBM bulk-heterojunctions for photovoltaic applications. Adv. Funct. Mater. 18, 1757–1766 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Global Research Laboratory (GRL) Program, the Global Frontier R&D Program at the Center for Multiscale Energy System funded by the National Research Foundation in Korea, and by a grant from the KRICT 2020 Program for Future Technology of the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Republic of Korea. M.G. expresses his gratitude to the European Research Council (ERC) for supporting part of this work under an advanced research grant (no. 247404, MESOLIGHT).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Jin Hyuck Heo, Sang Hyuk Im and Jun Hong Noh: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Advanced Materials, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, 141 Gajeong-Ro, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon, 305-600, Korea

    Jin Hyuck Heo, Sang Hyuk Im, Jun Hong Noh, Tarak N. Mandal, Choong-Sun Lim, Jeong Ah Chang, Yong Hui Lee, Hi-jung Kim, Arpita Sarkar & Sang Il Seok

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Kyung Hee University, 1 Seochon-dong, Giheung-gu, Youngin-si, 446-701, Gyeonggi-do, Korea

    Sang Hyuk Im

  3. Laboratory for Photonics and Interfaces, Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, School of Basic Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, CH-1015, Switzerland

    Md. K. Nazeeruddin & Michael Grätzel

  4. Department of Energy Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, Korea

    Sang Il Seok

Authors
  1. Jin Hyuck Heo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sang Hyuk Im
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jun Hong Noh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tarak N. Mandal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Choong-Sun Lim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jeong Ah Chang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Yong Hui Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Hi-jung Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Arpita Sarkar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Md. K. Nazeeruddin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Michael Grätzel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Sang Il Seok
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

S.I.S. and S.H.I. conceived the experiments, carried out data analysis and prepared the manuscript. M.G. and M.K.N. contributed to the analysis of data and revision of the manuscript. J.H.H., J.H.N. and S.H.I carried out preparation of the devices and device performance measurements. T.N.M. and C.-S.L. synthesized materials for CH3NH3PbI3 and S.I.S prepared TiO2 pastes for the electrodes. Y.H.L., H.J.K. and A.S. prepared the mesoporous electrode. J.A.C. fabricated test specimens for comparisons. S.I.S. and M.G directed the study. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Michael Grätzel or Sang Il Seok.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary information

Supplementary information (PDF 1488 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Heo, J., Im, S., Noh, J. et al. Efficient inorganic–organic hybrid heterojunction solar cells containing perovskite compound and polymeric hole conductors. Nature Photon 7, 486–491 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2013.80

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2013.80

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing