Fabrication and Characterization of an Efficient Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells with POSS Passivating Hole Transport Layer.

Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS), featuring a hollow-cage or semi-cage structure is a new type of organic-inorganic hybrid nanoparticles. POSS combines the advantages of inorganic components and organic components with a great potential for optoelectronic applications such as in emerging perovskite solar cells. When POSS is well dispersed in the polymer matrix, it can effectively improve the thermal, mechanical, magnetic, acoustic, and surface properties of the polymer. In this study, POSS was spin-coated as an ultra-thin passivation layer over the hole transporting layer of nickel-oxide (NOx) in the structure of a perovskite solar cell. The POSS incorporation led to a more hydrophobic and smoother surface for further perovskite deposition, resulting in the increase in the grain size of perovskite. An appropriate POSS passivation layer could effectively reduce the recombination of the electron and hole at grain boundaries and increase the short-circuit current from 18.0 to 20.5 mA·cm-2. Moreover, the open-circuit voltage of the cell could slightly increase over 1 V.

Fermi-Level Tuning of G-Doped Layers.

Recently, geometry-induced quantum effects were observed in periodic nanostructures. Nanograting (NG) geometry significantly affects the electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of semiconductor layers. Silicon NG layers exhibit geometry-induced doping. In this study, G-doped junctions were fabricated and characterized and the Fermi-level tuning of the G-doped layers by changing the NG depth was investigated. Samples with various indent depths were fabricated using laser interference lithography and a consecutive series of reactive ion etching. Four adjacent areas with NG depths of 10, 20, 30, and 40 nm were prepared on the same chip. A Kelvin probe was used to map the work function and determine the Fermi level of the samples. The G-doping-induced Fermi-level increase was recorded for eight sample sets cut separately from p-, n-, p+-, and n+-type silicon substrates. The maximum increase in the Fermi level was observed at a10 nm depth, and this decreased with increasing indent depth in the p- and n-type substrates. Particularly, this reduction was more pronounced in the p-type substrates. However, the Fermi-level increase in the n+- and p+-type substrates was negligible. The obtained results are explained using the G-doping theory and G-doped layer formation mechanism introduced in previous works.