A Cu 3 PS 4 nanoparticle hole selective layer for efficient inverted perovskite solar cells

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Materials for energy and sustainability, 2019-02, Vol.7 (9), p.4604-4610
• Main Authors: Yin, Xinxing, McClary, Scott A., Song, Zhaoning, Zhao, Dewei, Graeser, Brian, Wang, Changlei, Shrestha, Niraj, Wang, Xiaoming, Chen, Cong, Li, Chongwen, Subedi, Kamala K., Ellingson, Randy J., Tang, Weihua, Agrawal, Rakesh, Yan, Yanfa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/C8TA12100A

Cu 3 PS 4 nanoparticles are used as a new inorganic hole selective layer (HSL) to fabricate efficient perovskite thin-film solar cells in the inverted device configuration. Compared with other HSL materials used in efficient perovskite solar cells, Cu 3 PS 4 has the smallest effective mass for holes. Additionally, Cu 3 PS 4 has a valence band energy level of −5.05 eV, which is suitable for effectively extracting holes generated in perovskite absorbers. These reveal intrinsic properties of Cu 3 PS 4 that make it an excellent HSL material for perovskite solar cells. We further find that a Cu 3 PS 4 nanoparticle HSL promotes grain growth of perovskite thin films, which benefits device performance. Our perovskite solar cells using a Cu 3 PS 4 nanoparticle HSL achieve a maximum power conversion efficiency of 18.17% with small hysteresis and a high fill factor of 81.6%, which is significantly better than the performance of the best control device using the poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) HSL.