Perovskite Solar Cell Using Isonicotinic Acid as a Gap-Filling Self-Assembled Monolayer with High Photovoltaic Performance and Light Stability

Takeyuki Sekimoto; Teruaki Yamamoto; Fumito Takeno; Ryosuke Nishikubo; Maki Hiraoka; Ryusuke Uchida; Toru Nakamura; Kenji Kawano; Akinori Saeki; Yukihiro Kaneko; Taisuke Matsui

doi:10.1021/acsami.3c05215

Perovskite Solar Cell Using Isonicotinic Acid as a Gap-Filling Self-Assembled Monolayer with High Photovoltaic Performance and Light Stability

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Jul 19;15(28):33581-33592. doi: 10.1021/acsami.3c05215. Epub 2023 Jul 7.

Affiliations

¹ Technology Division, Panasonic Holdings Corporation, Osaka 570-8501, Japan.
² Product Analysis Center, Panasonic Holdings Corporation, Osaka 570-8501, Japan.
³ Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.

PMID: 37417321
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c05215

Abstract

High photovoltaic performance and light stability are required for the practical outdoor use of lead-halide perovskite solar cells. To improve the light stability of perovskite solar cells, it is effective to introduce a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) between the carrier transport layer and the perovskite layer. Several alternative approaches in their molecular design and combination with multiple SAMs support high photovoltaic conversion efficiency (PCE). Herein, we report a new structure for improving both PCE and light stability, in which the surface of an electron transport layer (ETL) was modified by combining a fullerene-functionalized self-assembled monolayer (C₆₀SAM) and a suitable gap-filling self-assembled monolayer (GFSAM). Small-sized GFSAMs can enter the gap space of the C₆₀SAM and terminate the unterminated sites on the ETL surface. The best GFSAM in this study was formed using an isonicotinic acid solution. After a light stability test for 68 h at 50 °C under 1 sun illumination, the best cell with C₆₀SAM and GFSAM showed a PCE of 18.68% with a retention rate of over 99%. Moreover, following outdoor exposure for six months, the cells with C₆₀SAM and GFSAM exhibited almost unchanged PCE. From the valence band spectra of the ETLs obtained using hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, we confirmed a decrease in the offset at the ETL/perovskite interface owing to the additional GFSAM treatment on the C₆₀SAM-modified ETL surface. Time-resolved microwave conductivity measurements demonstrated that the additional GFSAM improved electron extraction at the C₆₀SAM-modified ETL/perovskite interface.

Keywords: hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; light stability; perovskite solar cell; self-assembled monolayer; time-resolved microwave conductivity.