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A holistic approach to interface stabilization for efficient perovskite solar modules with over 2,000-hour operational stability

Nature Energy volume 5, pages 596–604 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

The upscaling of perovskite solar cells to module scale and long-term stability have been recognized as the most important challenges for the commercialization of this emerging photovoltaic technology. In a perovskite solar module, each interface within the device contributes to the efficiency and stability of the module. Here, we employed a holistic interface stabilization strategy by modifying all the relevant layers and interfaces, namely the perovskite layer, charge transporting layers and device encapsulation, to improve the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar modules. The treatments were selected for their compatibility with low-temperature scalable processing and the module scribing steps. Our unencapsulated perovskite solar modules achieved a reverse-scan efficiency of 16.6% for a designated area of 22.4 cm2. The encapsulated perovskite solar modules, which show efficiencies similar to the unencapsulated one, retained approximately 86% of the initial performance after continuous operation for 2,000 h under AM1.5G light illumination, which translates into a T90 lifetime (the time over which the device efficiency reduces to 90% of its initial value) of 1,570 h and an estimated T80 lifetime (the time over which the device efficiency reduces to 80% of its initial value) of 2,680 h.

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Fig. 1: HIS strategy for PSMs.
Fig. 2: ETL/perovskite and perovskite/HTL interface stabilization and energy-level alignment.
Fig. 3: PSC performance with ETL/perovskite and perovskite/HTL interface stabilization treatments and passivation effect of EAI/MAI treatment.
Fig. 4: Perovskite film stability with perovskite/HTL interface stabilization.
Fig. 5: Photovoltaic performance and stability profiles of PSMs.

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Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the published article and its Supplementary Information. The data that support the plots within this article and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funding from the Energy Materials and Surface Sciences Unit of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, the OIST R&D Cluster Research Program and the OIST Proof of Concept (POC) Program. We thank OIST Mechanical Engineering & Microfabrication Support Section for maintenance of the cleanroom and parylene deposition equipment. The authors thank M. Remeika for writing the software for steady-state power measurements and H. B. Kang, N. Ishizu, T. Miyazawa, the OIST Imaging Section and the Nanofab team for XRD, SEM, AFM and TRPL characterization.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Zonghao Liu, Longbin Qiu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy Materials and Surface Sciences Unit (EMSSU), Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), Okinawa, Japan

    Zonghao Liu, Longbin Qiu, Luis K. Ono, Sisi He, Zhanhao Hu, Maowei Jiang, Guoqing Tong, Zhifang Wu, Yan Jiang, Dae-Yong Son, Yangyang Dang & Yabing Qi

  2. Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Zonghao Liu

  3. Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China

    Longbin Qiu

  4. Department of Energy and Environment, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan

    Said Kazaoui

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Contributions

Y.Q. supervised the project. Y.Q. and Z.L. conceived the ideas and designed the experiments. Z.L. conducted the corresponding device fabrication and basic characterization. Z.L. and L.Q. conducted the module fabrication, encapsulation and stability testing. L.Q. and L.K.O. helped with the XPS, UPS and SIMS characterization and analyses. S.H. helped with the module picture design and data analysis. Z.H. helped with energy alignment analyses. M.J. helped with TRPL characterization. G.T., Z.W., Y.J., Y.D. and S.K. provided valuable suggestions for the manuscript. S.K. contributed to the J–V characterization. Z.L. and Y.Q. participated in all the data analysis. All authors contributed to the writing of the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yabing Qi.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–30, Tables 1–9, Notes 1–7 and refs. 1–57

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Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Schematic drawing showing the device structure.

Source Data Fig. 2

Numerical data used to generate Figure 2.

Source Data Fig. 3

Numerical data used to generate Figure 3.

Source Data Fig. 4

SEM images of Figure 4a and b; AFM images of Figure 4c and d; Numerical data used to generate Figure e and f.

Source Data Fig. 5

Optical photo of Figure 5a; Numerical data used to generate Figure 5b-d.

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Liu, Z., Qiu, L., Ono, L.K. et al. A holistic approach to interface stabilization for efficient perovskite solar modules with over 2,000-hour operational stability. Nat Energy 5, 596–604 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-0653-2

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