Abstract
Inverted perovskite solar cells possess great potential for single or multi-junction photovoltaics. However, energy and charge losses at the interfaces limit their performance. Here we introduce p-type antimony-doped tin oxides (ATOx) combined with a self-assembled monolayer molecule as an interlayer between the perovskite and hole-transporting layers (HTL) in inverted solar cells. ATOx increases the chemical stability of the interface; we show that the redox reaction that commonly took place at the NiOx/perovskite interface is negligible at the ATOx/perovskite interface. We demonstrate that ATOx suppresses non-radiative recombination in the perovskite layer and enhances the depletion at the perovskite/HTL interface for efficient charge extraction. Owing to these combined improvements, we achieve inverted perovskite solar cells with a maximum efficiency of 25.7% (certified steady-state efficiency of 24.8%) for an area of 0.05 cm2, retained under maximum power point tracking over 500 h and 24.6% (certified steady-state efficiency of 24.0%) for an area of 1 cm2.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.
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Acknowledgements
Y.H. acknowledges the support from MOE Tier 2 grant (MOE-T2EP10122-0005), the Ministry of Education (Singapore) and the National University of Singapore Presidential Young Professorship (A-0009174-03-00 and A-0009174-02-00). This research is supported by the National Research Foundation, Singapore and A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research) under its LCERFI programme award number U2102d2002. We are affiliated with the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), a research institute at the National University of Singapore. SERIS is supported by the National University of Singapore, the National Research Foundation Singapore, the Energy Market Authority of Singapore and the Singapore Economic Development Board. We also acknowledge generous computing resources at National Supercomputing Centre (NSCC) Singapore.
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Y.H., J.L. and H.L. conceived the idea and designed the experiments. Y.H. directed and supervised the project. J.L. fabricated the perovskite solar cells. H.L. conducted material and solar cell characterizations. C.X. assisted with cross-sectional KPFM measurements. X.J. conducted high-resolution EQE measurement and assisted with Voc loss analysis. X.G. and J.F. assisted with confocal PL measurements. J.C. and R.L. assisted with reaction energy calculation. H.L., X.J and R.G. carried out the TrPL measurements and analysed the data. X.W. assisted with device fabrication and measurements. M.L. assisted with cross-sectional KPFM measurements and data analysis. A.H., F.L. synthesized the ATOx nanoparticles, A.H. produced the ATOx formulations. M.R. oversaw the ATOx production process. J.L., H.L., E.A., S.L. and Y.H. analysed data and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and commented on the manuscript.
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Nature Energy thanks Xingwang Zhang and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Li, J., Liang, H., Xiao, C. et al. Enhancing the efficiency and longevity of inverted perovskite solar cells with antimony-doped tin oxides. Nat Energy 9, 308–315 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-023-01442-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-023-01442-1
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