Green Anisole as Antisolvent in Planar Triple-Cation Perovskite Solar Cells with Varying Cesium Concentrations

Micromachines (Basel). 2024 Jan 15;15(1):136. doi: 10.3390/mi15010136.

Abstract

The feasibility of replacing toxic chlorobenzene antisolvents with environmentally friendly anisole in the fabrication of planar triple-cation perovskite solar cells was explored here. The successful integration of anisole not only ensures comparable device performance but also contributes to the development of more sustainable and green fabrication processes for next-generation photovoltaic technologies. Nevertheless, to ensure the possibility of achieving well-functioning unencapsulated devices whose working operation depends on outdoor atmospheric conditions, we found that adjusting the cesium concentrations in the perovskite layers enabled the electrical characterization of efficient devices even under high relative humidity conditions (more than 40%). We found that 10% of CsI in the precursor solution will make devices with low hysteresis indexes and sustained performance stability over a 90-day period both with cholorobenzene and anisole antisolvent. These results further confirm that green anisole can replace chlorobenzene as an antisolvent.

Keywords: ambient air; anisole; cesium; green antisolvent; perovskite; planar solar cell; stability; triple cation; unencapsulated.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development in the framework of the Operating Agreement with ENEA for Research on the Electric System.