Enhanced Hole Extraction in Perovskite Solar Cells Through Carbon Nanotubes

J Phys Chem Lett. 2014 Dec 4;5(23):4207-12. doi: 10.1021/jz5021795. Epub 2014 Nov 20.

Abstract

Here, we report the use of polymer-wrapped carbon nanotubes as a means to enhance charge extraction through undoped spiro-OMeTAD. With this approach a good solar cell performance is achieved without the implementation of conventional doping methods. We demonstrate that a stratified two-layer architecture of sequentially deposited layers of carbon nanotubes and spiro-OMeTAD, outperforms a conventional blend of the hole-conductor and the carbon nanotubes. We also provide insights into the mechanism of the rapid hole extraction observed in the two-layer approach.

Keywords: hole-transporting material; perovskite solar cells; photovoltaics; single-walled carbon nanotubes; spiro-OMeTAD.