Efficient inorganic solid solar cells composed of perovskite and PbS quantum dots

Nanoscale. 2015 Jun 7;7(21):9902-7. doi: 10.1039/c5nr00420a.

Abstract

Lead halide perovskite solar cells have attracted great interest due to their high efficiency and simple fabrication process. However, the high efficiency heavily relies on expensive organic hole-transporting materials (OHTMs) such as 2,2',7,7'-tetrakis(N,N-di-p-methoxyphenylamine)-9,9'-spirobifluorene (spiro-MeOTAD), it is preferable to replace these expensive OHTMs by inorganic and low cost materials. Here, we report colloidal PbS quantum dots synthesized by a facile method and used as the inorganic hole-transporting material in a hybrid perovskite solar cell. By controlling the crystalline morphology of the perovskite capping layer, the recombination process is significantly retarded. Furthermore, a pure inorganic solar cell prepared by a two-step process demonstrated a nearly 8% power conversion efficiency due to efficient charge separation by a cascade of junctions and retarding charge recombination by a void-free capping layer. The stability of the inorganic solar cell was also tested with a little decay observed within ca. 100 h.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't