Efficient Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells Using Low-Cost Cu Top and Bottom Electrodes

Peng Li; Zhongwei Wu; Hong Hu; Yaokang Zhang; Ting Xiao; Xi Lu; Zhiwei Ren; Gang Li; Zehan Wu; Jianhua Hao; Hao-Li Zhang; Zijian Zheng

doi:10.1021/acsami.0c06461

Efficient Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells Using Low-Cost Cu Top and Bottom Electrodes

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Jun 10;12(23):26050-26059. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c06461. Epub 2020 May 27.

Authors

Peng Li¹, Zhongwei Wu¹, Hong Hu¹, Yaokang Zhang¹, Ting Xiao¹, Xi Lu¹, Zhiwei Ren², Gang Li², Zehan Wu³, Jianhua Hao³, Hao-Li Zhang⁴, Zijian Zheng¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory for Advanced Interfacial Materials and Devices, Research Centre for Smart Wearable Technology, Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
² Advanced Materials & Electronics Lab, Department of Electronic and Information Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
³ Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000 P.R. China.

PMID: 32419442
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c06461

Abstract

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are promising technology for flexible photovoltaic applications because of the low cost and good flexibility of the halide perovskite materials. Nevertheless, the use of transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) and noble metals (e.g., Au and Ag) as PSC electrodes is very costly, and TCOs are too brittle for flexible applications. How to fabricate flexible PSCs (FPSCs) with cost-effective and soft electrode materials remains to be a big challenge. Herein, we report the first study of FPSCs using low-cost Cu electrodes. Both the transparent bottom electrode and the opaque top electrode are fabricated with Cu. FPSCs made with such Cu electrodes acquire a champion efficiency of 13.58% (J_sc of 17.79 mA cm^-2, V_oc of 1.031 V, and FF of 74.07%), which retains over 90% after 1000 cycles of bending at a small radius of curvature of 5 mm. The device shows negligible changes in Voc and FF after storage for 10 weeks without encapsulation.

Keywords: Cu; TCO-free; electrode materials; flexible electronics; perovskite solar cells.