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Interface Engineering in Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Solar Cells

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2019) | Viewed by 31588

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Aldo Di Carlo

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Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy (C.H.O.S.E.), Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome‐Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
Interests: hybrid photovoltaic devices; organic electronics; perovskite solar cells
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Antonio Agresti

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Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Roma Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
Interests: the design, engineering, fabrication and electrical/spectroscopic characterization of hybrid and organic solar cells and large area modules; the use of graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides and new bi-dimensional materials such as MXenes for photovoltaics engineering and in particular for perovskite solar cells, tandem devices, large area modules, and panels
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Francesco Bonaccorso

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Guest Editor

Graphene Labs,Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy
Interests: the fundamental understanding and solution processing of novel nanomaterials with on-demand designed structures, their spectroscopic characterization; incorporation into polymer composites and their technological application in solar and photoelectrochemical cells, lithium-ion batteries, light emitting devices and ultrafast lasers

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Hybrid organic/inorganic solar cells, such as dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) and perovskite solar cells (PSCs), are photovoltaic (PV) technologies that hold promise for conventional and advanced applications, by offering enticing prospects in the quest for efficiency and low costs.

In DSCs and PSCs, the main physical processes, such as the light absorption and the charge transport are carried out by different materials within the cells. Due to this particular feature, such PV technologies make use of the synergetic matching between device’s constituent layers that take places at the layers’ interfaces. The possibility to understand the physical and chemical properties of the interface materials is the reading key to exploit the potentialities of the PSC and DSC technologies. A proper tuning of the device’s interfaces has the capability to improve the power conversion efficiencies by avoiding charge recombination and improving charge extraction. Furthermore, interfaces control the stability of the device. Specific modification of interfaces can reduce material degradation, avoid ion diffusion and improve mechanical stiffness, all phenomena that directly affect the stability of the cells. A fundamental role of interfaces is played in the device scaling up to module size. Here, the increased cell area emphasizes the mismatch that could occur between constituting materials if interfaces are not properly designed.

Currently, there are several solutions to master interface, such as (but not limited to): i) chemical modification of interface by adding functional molecules or compound; ii) physical treatment of the interface with plasma or ultra-violet light; and iii) interlayers formed by two-dimensional materials such as graphene, MoS₂, WS₂, etc.

In this context, the main aim of this Special Issue on “Interface Engineering in Dye Sensitized and Perovskite Solar Cells” is to provide the current state-of-the-art in terms of theory, processing, and applications of interface engineering approach to boost DSC and PSC efficiency, their stability and to permit an effective scaling up to module size. This issue will present a detailed overview of methodologies for interface engineering in DSCs and PSCs, their characterization and application, identifying, at the same time, future research directions and developments.

We are pleased to invite you to submit manuscripts for the Special Issue on “Interface Engineering in Dye Sensitized and Perovskite Solar Cells” in the form of full research papers, communications, and review articles. We look forward to your contribution in this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Aldo Di Carlo
Dr. Antonio Agresti
Dr. Francesco Bonaccorso
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

Hybrid Organic/inorganic Solar Cells
Perovskite Solar Cells and Modules
Dye Sensitized Solar Cell and Modules
Interface Engineering and 2D Materials
Device Interface aging and long-term Stability

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 8605 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Copper Iodide Interlayer for Improved Charge Extraction and Stability of Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells

by Danila Saranin, Pavel Gostischev, Dmitry Tatarinov, Inga Ermanova, Vsevolod Mazov, Dmitry Muratov, Alexey Tameev, Denis Kuznetsov, Sergey Didenko and Aldo Di Carlo

Materials 2019, 12(9), 1406; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12091406 - 30 Apr 2019

Cited by 36 | Viewed by 8417

Abstract

Nickel oxide (NiO) is one of the most promising and high-performing Hole Transporting Layer (HTL) in inverted perovskite solar cells due to ideal band alignment with perovskite absorber, wide band gap, and high mobility of charges. At the same time, however, NiO does not provide good contact and trap-free junction for hole collection. In this paper, we examine this problem by developing a double hole transport configuration with a copper iodide (CuI) interlayer for efficient surface passivation. Transient photo-current (TPC) measurements showed that Perovskite/HTL interface with CuI interlayer has an improved hole injection; CuI passivation reduces the concentration of traps and the parasitic charge accumulation that limits the flow of charges. Moreover, we found that CuI protect the HTL/perovskite interface from degradation and consequently improve the stability of the cell. The presence of CuI interlayer induces an improvement of open-circuit voltage V_OC (from 1.02 V to 1.07 V), an increase of the shunt resistance R_SH (100%), a reduction of the series resistance R_S (−30%), and finally a +10% improvement of the solar cell efficiency. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interface Engineering in Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Solar Cells)

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14 pages, 3788 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pronounced Impact of p-Type Carriers and Reduction of Bandgap in Semiconducting ZnTe Thin Films by Cu Doping for Intermediate Buffer Layer in Heterojunction Solar Cells

by Waqar Mahmood, Saif Ullah Awan, Amad Ud Din, Junaid Ali, Muhammad Farooq Nasir, Nazakat Ali, Anwar ul Haq, Muhammad Kamran, Bushra Parveen, Muhammad Rafiq and Nazar Abbas Shah

Materials 2019, 12(8), 1359; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12081359 - 25 Apr 2019

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3924

Abstract

Stabilized un-doped Zinc Telluride (ZnTe) thin films were grown on glass substrates under vacuum using a closed space sublimation (CSS) technique. A dilute copper nitrate solution (0.1/100 mL) was prepared for copper doping, known as an ion exchange process, in the matrix of the ZnTe thin film. The reproducible polycrystalline cubic structure of undoped and the Cu doped ZnTe thin films with preferred orientation (111) was confirmed by X-rays diffraction (XRD) technique. Lattice parameter analyses verified the expansion of unit cell volume after incorporation of Cu species into ZnTe thin films samples. The micrographs of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to measure the variation in crystal sizes of samples. The energy dispersive X-rays were used to validate the elemental composition of undoped and Cu-doped ZnTe thin films. The bandgap energy 2.24 eV of the ZnTe thin film decreased after doping Cu to 2.20 eV and may be due to the introduction of acceptors states near to valance band. Optical studies showed that refractive index was measured from 2.18 to 3.24, whereas thicknesses varied between 220 nm to 320 nm for un-doped and Cu doped ZnTe thin film, respectively, using the Swanepoel model. The oxidation states of Zn⁺², Te⁺², and Cu⁺¹ through high resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses was observed. The resistivity of thin films changed from ~10⁷ Ω·cm or undoped ZnTe to ~1 Ω·cm for Cu-doped ZnTe thin film, whereas p-type carrier concentration increased from 4 × 10⁹ cm⁻² to 1.4 × 10¹¹ cm⁻², respectively. These results predicted that Cu-doped ZnTe thin film can be used as an ideal, efficient, and stable intermediate layer between metallic and absorber back contact for the heterojunction thin film solar cell technology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interface Engineering in Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Solar Cells)

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13 pages, 2420 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hybrid Perovskites Depth Profiling with Variable-Size Argon Clusters and Monatomic Ions Beams

by Céline Noël, Sara Pescetelli, Antonio Agresti, Alexis Franquet, Valentina Spampinato, Alexandre Felten, Aldo di Carlo, Laurent Houssiau and Yan Busby

Materials 2019, 12(5), 726; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12050726 - 02 Mar 2019

Cited by 39 | Viewed by 7300

Abstract

Ion beam depth profiling is increasingly used to investigate layers and interfaces in complex multilayered devices, including solar cells. This approach is particularly challenging on hybrid perovskite layers and perovskite solar cells because of the presence of organic/inorganic interfaces requiring the fine optimization of the sputtering beam conditions. The ion beam sputtering must ensure a viable sputtering rate on hard inorganic materials while limiting the chemical (fragmentation), compositional (preferential sputtering) or topographical (roughening and intermixing) modifications on soft organic layers. In this work, model (Cs_x(MA_0.17FA_0.83)_100−xPb(I_0.83Br_0.17)₃/cTiO₂/Glass) samples and full mesoscopic perovskite solar cells are profiled using low-energy (500 and 1000 eV) monatomic beams (Ar⁺ and Cs⁺) and variable-size argon clusters (Ar_n⁺, 75 < n < 4000) with energy up to 20 keV. The ion beam conditions are optimized by systematically comparing the sputtering rates and the surface modifications associated with each sputtering beam. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, and in-situ scanning probe microscopy are combined to characterize the interfaces and evidence sputtering-related artifacts. Within monatomic beams, 500 eV Cs⁺ results in the most intense and stable ToF-SIMS molecular profiles, almost material-independent sputtering rates and sharp interfaces. Large argon clusters (n > 500) with insufficient energy (E < 10 keV) result in the preferential sputtering of organic molecules and are highly ineffective to sputter small metal clusters (Pb and Au), which tend to artificially accumulate during the depth profile. This is not the case for the optimized cluster ions having a few hundred argon atoms (300 < n < 500) and an energy-per-atom value of at least 20 eV. In these conditions, we obtain (i) the low fragmentation of organic molecules, (ii) convenient erosion rates on soft and hard layers (but still different), and (iii) constant molecular profiles in the perovskite layer, i.e., no accumulation of damages. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interface Engineering in Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Solar Cells)

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26 pages, 5600 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Design, Electron Transfer Process, and Opto-Electronic Property of Solar Cell Using Triphenylamine-Based D-π-A Architectures

by Yuanchao Li, Lu Mi, Haibin Wang, Yuanzuo Li and Jianping Liang

Materials 2019, 12(1), 193; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12010193 - 08 Jan 2019

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3732

Abstract

A series of D-π-A type dyes were designed based on the experimentally synthesized A1 by introducing different functional groups on the donor and π-spacer, and the optical and electrical properties were calculated by using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT). P1–P6 [...] Read more.

Δ G^{i n j e c t}

), reorganization energy (

Δ G_{r e g}

) and

e V_{O C}

. These critical parameters have a close relationship with the short-circuit current density (

J_{S C}

) and open-circuit photovoltage (

V_{O C}

), and lead to P1–P6 will exhibit higher efficiency. D4 also exhibit superior properties in the driving force of electron injection (

Δ G^{i n j e c t}

), reorganization energy (

Δ G_{r e g}

), which will lead to a higher short-circuit current density (

J_{S C}

). We hope that these results will be helpful for experiments to synthesize new and highly efficient dyes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interface Engineering in Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Solar Cells)

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10 pages, 4125 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Static Heat and Dynamic Current on Al/Zn∙Cu/Sn Solder/Ag Interfaces of Sn Photovoltaic Al-Ribbon Modules

by Kuan-Jen Chen, Fei-Yi Hung, Truan-Sheng Lui and Wen-Yu Lin

Materials 2018, 11(9), 1642; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma11091642 - 07 Sep 2018

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2714

Abstract

This present study applied Cu∙Zn/Al ribbon in place of a traditional Cu ribbon to a photovoltaic (PV) ribbon. A hot-dipped and an electroplated Sn PV ribbon reflowed onto an Ag electrode on a Si solar cell and estimated the feasibility of the tested module (Ag/Solder/Cu∙Zn/Al). After bias-aging, a bias-induced thermal diffusion and an electromigration promoted the growth of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) (Cu₆Sn₅, Ag₃Sn). To simulate a photo-generated current in the series connection of solar cells, an electron with Ag-direction (electron flows from Ag to Al) and Al-direction (electron flows from Al to Ag) was passed through the Al/Zn∙Cu/Solder/Ag structure to clarify the growth mechanism of IMCs. An increase in resistance of the Ag-direction-biased module was higher than that of the Al-direction biased one due to the intense growth of Cu₆Sn₅ and Ag₃Sn IMCs. The coated solder of the electroplated PV ribbon was less than that of the hot-dipped one, and thus decreased the growth reaction of IMCs and the cost of PV ribbon. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interface Engineering in Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Solar Cells)

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11 pages, 2302 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modulating Surface Morphology Related to Crystallization Speed of Perovskite Grain and Semiconductor Properties of Optical Absorber Layer under Controlled Doping of Potassium Ions for Solar Cells

by Tao Ling, Xiaoping Zou, Jin Cheng, Ying Yang, Haiyan Ren and Dan Chen

Materials 2018, 11(9), 1605; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma11091605 - 04 Sep 2018

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4473

Abstract

Perovskite thin films with excellent optical semiconductor and crystallization properties and superior surface morphology are normally considered to be vital to perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this paper, we systematically survey the process of modulating surface morphology and optical semiconductor and crystallization properties of methylammonium lead iodide film by controlling doping of K⁺ for PSC prepared in air and propose the mechanism of large K⁺-doped perovskite grain formation related to crystallization speed. The increase in the crystallization speed leads to the production of large grains without localized-solvent-vapor (LSV) pores via moderate doping of K⁺, and the exorbitant crystallization speed induces super large grains with LSV pores via excessive doping of K⁺. Furthermore, the semiconductor properties (absorption band edge wavelength, PL emission peak wavelength, energy band gap) of perovskite film can be significantly tuned by controlled doping of K⁺. The investigation of the detailed process of modulating surface morphology and semiconductor properties of perovskite thin film by controlled doping of K⁺ may provide guidance and pave the way for superior component design of absorption materials for cost-efficient PSCs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interface Engineering in Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Solar Cells)

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