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A bilayer conducting polymer structure for planar perovskite solar cells with over 1,400 hours operational stability at elevated temperatures

Nature Energy volume 7, pages 144–152 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

The long-term stability of perovskite solar cells remains a challenge. Both the perovskite layer and the device architecture need to endure long-term operation. Here we first use a self-constructed high-throughput screening platform to find perovskite compositions stable under heat and light. Then, we use the most stable perovskite composition to investigate the stability of contact layers in solar cells. We report on the thermal degradation mechanism of transition metal oxide contact (for example, Ta-WOx/NiOx) and propose a bilayer structure consisting of acid-doped polymer stacked on dopant-free polymer as an alternative. The dopant-free polymer provides an acid barrier between the perovskite and the acid-doped polymer. The bilayer structure exhibits stable ohmic contact at elevated temperatures and buffers iodine vapours. The unencapsulated device based on the bilayer contact (with a MgF2 capping layer) retains 99% of its peak efficiency after 1,450 h of continuous operation at 65 °C in a N2 atmosphere under metal-halide lamps. The device also shows negligible hysteresis during the entire ageing period.

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Fig. 1: Stability analysis for 160 mixed-cation, mixed-halide perovskites.
Fig. 2: Device characterizations of the Ta-WOx-based device and conductance analysis.
Fig. 3: Device characterizations of PDCBT/PTAA-BCF-based perovskite solar cells.
Fig. 4: Stability tests of devices with and without a protection layer.

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Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the article and its Supplementary Information. Supplementary Datasets are provided with this paper.

Code availability

The VBA/MATLAB codes used to analyse the high-throughput data are available as a Supplementary Code file.

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Acknowledgements

Y. Zhao acknowledges the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for supporting his scientific research during the postdoctoral period (grant number 1199604). Y. Zhao thanks Y. Lu for the experimental discussion. C.J.B. gratefully acknowledges the financial support through the ‘Aufbruch Bayern’ initiative of the state of Bavaria (EnCN and ‘Solar Factory of the Future’), the Bavarian Initiative ‘Solar Technologies Go Hybrid’ (SolTech) and the SFB 953 (DFG). We acknowledge the grants ‘ELF-PV—Design and Development of Solution-Processed Functional Materials for the Next Generations of PV Technologies’ (no. 44-6521a/20/4) and ‘Solar Factory of the Future’ (FKZ 20.2-3410.5-4-5) by the Bavarian state government and the financial support from the German Research Foundation with grant DFG INST 90/917-1 FUGG and DFG International Graduate School GRK2495/E. J.L. is grateful for the financial support from the Sino-German (CSC-DAAD) Postdoctoral Scholarship Program; J.Z., C.L. and J.W. acknowledge financial support from the China Scholarship Council (CSC).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Yicheng Zhao, Thomas Heumueller, Jiyun Zhang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Helmholtz-Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg (HI-ERN), Erlangen, Germany

    Yicheng Zhao, Thomas Heumueller, Jiyun Zhang, Stefan Langner, Jianchang Wu, Ning Li, Jens Hauch & Christoph J. Brabec

  2. Institute of Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i‐MEET), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Friedrich‐Alexander‐Universität Erlangen‐Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

    Yicheng Zhao, Thomas Heumueller, Jiyun Zhang, Junsheng Luo, Olga Kasian, Stefan Langner, Christian Kupfer, Bowen Liu, Yu Zhong, Jack Elia, Andres Osvet, Chao Liu, Ning Li & Christoph J. Brabec

  3. State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, P. R. China

    Junsheng Luo, Zhongquan Wan & Chunyang Jia

  4. Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin GmbH, Helmholtz Institut Erlangen-Nürnberg, Berlin, Germany

    Olga Kasian

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Contributions

Y. Zhao conceived the idea and designed the experiments. Y. Zhao, J.H. and C.J.B. supervised the project. Y. Zhao and J. Z. performed high-throughput experiments. Y. Zhao wrote the codes for data analysis. Y. Zhao, B.L., Y. Zhong and J.L. fabricated the devices, and T.H. characterized the stability. Y. Zhao and J.E. carried out the SEM analyses. O.K. performed XPS characterizations. Y. Zhao wrote the manuscript, and S.L., C.K., A.O., Z.W., J.W., C.L., C.J., N.L., J.H. and C.J.B. contributed to the editing of this manuscript. All authors contributed to the discussion of the work.

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Correspondence to Yicheng Zhao or Christoph J. Brabec.

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Peer review information Nature Energy thanks Tracy Schloemer and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Zhao, Y., Heumueller, T., Zhang, J. et al. A bilayer conducting polymer structure for planar perovskite solar cells with over 1,400 hours operational stability at elevated temperatures. Nat Energy 7, 144–152 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-021-00953-z

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