Multifunctional Interface Modification Enables Efficient and Stable HTL-Free Carbon-Electroded CsPbI2Br Perovskite Solar Cells.

In recent years, hole transport layer-free all-inorganic CsPbI2Br carbon-electroded perovskite solar cells (C-PSCs) have garnered significant attention due to a trade-off between stability and photovoltaic performance. However, there are inevitably many defects generated at the surfaces or grain boundaries of CsPbI2Br perovskite films, which will serve as carrier non-radiative recombination centers, and CsPbI2Br perovskite films are sensitive to water molecules to degrade, together with energy level mismatch between CsPbI2Br perovskite and carbon electrodes. Herein, 1-benzyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (1-B-3-MIMPF6), an imidazolium-based ionic liquid simultaneously containing benzene ring and fluorine atoms, was introduced for the modification of the perovskite/carbon interface. The results showed that it could effectively reduce defects, enhance carrier transfer, mitigate carrier non-radiative recombination, facilitate energy alignment, and block moisture intrusion. Therefore, the photovoltaic performance of the modified PSCs with ITO/SnO2/CsPbI2Br/1-B-3-MIMPF6/carbon architecture has been boosted with a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 13.47 %, open circuit voltage of 1.20 V, short circuit current density of 14.69 mA/cm2, and fill factor of 76 %. Moreover, the unencapsulated modified devices exhibited an improved stability and the PCE maintained 78 % of their initial PCE after 24 h storage at room temperature in a 30 %-35 % humidity environment, whereas that of the pristine devices dropped to almost zero.

Formation and photovoltaic performance of few-layered graphene-decorated TiO2 nanocrystals used in dye-sensitized solar cells.

Few-layer graphene/TiO2 nanocrystal composites are successfully in situ synthesized at a low temperature of 400 °C using C28H16Br2 as the precursor. Raman mapping images show that the TiO2 nanocrystals are very uniformly dispersed in the composite films, and the in situ coating during the thermal decomposition process will favor the formation of a good interface combination between the few-layered graphene and the TiO2 nanocrystals. The few-layer graphene/TiO2 nanocrystal composites are used as photoanodes in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), and the conversion efficiency of 8.25% is obtained under full sun irradiation (AM 1.5), which increases by 65% compared with that of the pure TiO2 nanocrystal DSSCs (5.01%). It is found that the good interface combination between few-layered graphene and TiO2 nanocrystals may improve the electric conductivity and lifetime of photoinduced electrons in DSSCs. Moreover, some carbon atoms are doped into the crystal structure of the TiO2 nanocrystals during the thermal decomposition process, which will enhance the light absorption by narrowing the band gap and favor the improvement of the photovoltaic efficiency.