Highly Efficient and Stable Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells with Metal Oxides Nanoparticle Charge Extraction Layers

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Germany), 2018-03, Vol.14 (12), p.e1702775-n/a
• Main Authors: Najafi, Mehrdad, Di Giacomo, Francesco, Zhang, Dong, Shanmugam, Santhosh, Senes, Alessia, Verhees, Wiljan, Hadipour, Afshin, Galagan, Yulia, Aernouts, Tom, Veenstra, Sjoerd, Andriessen, Ronn
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cations; Durability; Efficiency; Electron transport; Energy conversion efficiency; flexible solar cells; Indium tin oxides; metal oxides; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; pervoskite solar cells; Photovoltaic cells; Polyethylene naphthalate; Solar cells; Substrates; Tin oxides; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.201702775

In this study, the fabrication of highly efficient and durable flexible inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is reported. Presynthesized, solution‐derived NiOx and ZnO nanoparticles films are employed at room temperature as a hole transport layer (HTL) and electron transport layer (ETL), respectively. The triple cation perovskite films are produced in a single step and for the sake of comparison, ultrasmooth and pinhole‐free absorbing layers are also fabricated using MAPbI3 perovskite. The triple cation perovskite cells exhibit champion power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 18.6% with high stabilized power conversion efficiency of 17.7% on rigid glass/indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates (comparing with 16.6% PCE with 16.1% stabilized output efficiency for the flexible polyethylene naphthalate (PEN)/thin film barrier/ITO substrates). More interestingly, the durability of flexible PSC under simulation of operative condition is proved. Over 85% of the maximum stabilized output efficiency is retained after 1000 h aging employing a thin MAPbI3 perovskite (over 90% after 500 h with a thick triple cation perovskite). This result is comparable to a similar state of the art rigid PSC and represents a breakthrough in the stability of flexible PSC using ETLs and HTLs compatible with roll to roll production speed, thanks to their room temperature processing. Efficient and durable flexible inverted perovskite solar cells are fabricated using presynthesized, solution processable metal oxides nanoparticle films. The results represent a breakthrough in upscaling both rigid and flexible perovskite photovoltaic devices as the presented stack is compatible with industrial sheet‐to‐sheet and roll‐to‐roll production methods.