Bio-inspired vertebral design for scalable and flexible perovskite solar cells

Xiangchuan Meng; Zheren Cai; Yanyan Zhang; Xiaotian Hu; Zhi Xing; Zengqi Huang; Zhandong Huang; Yongjie Cui; Ting Hu; Meng Su; Xunfan Liao; Lin Zhang; Fuyi Wang; Yanlin Song; Yiwang Chen

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16831-3

Bio-inspired vertebral design for scalable and flexible perovskite solar cells

Nat Commun. 2020 Jun 15;11(1):3016. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16831-3.

Authors

Xiangchuan Meng^{1

2}, Zheren Cai³, Yanyan Zhang⁴, Xiaotian Hu^{5

6}, Zhi Xing¹, Zengqi Huang¹, Zhandong Huang³, Yongjie Cui⁷, Ting Hu^{1

2}, Meng Su³, Xunfan Liao^{7

8}, Lin Zhang⁹, Fuyi Wang⁴, Yanlin Song¹⁰, Yiwang Chen^{11

12

13}

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang, 330031, China.
² Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang, 330031, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Green Printing, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS), 100190, Beijing, China.
⁴ CAS Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Living Biosystems, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS), Beijing, 100190, China.
⁵ College of Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang, 330031, China. xiaotian@iccas.ac.cn.
⁶ Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang, 330031, China. xiaotian@iccas.ac.cn.
⁷ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China.
⁸ Institute of Advanced Scientific Research (iASR), Jiangxi Normal University, 99 Ziyang Avenue, Nanchang, 330022, China.
⁹ Hunan Key Laboratory of Super Microstructure and Ultrafast Process, School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China.
¹⁰ Key Laboratory of Green Printing, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS), 100190, Beijing, China. ylsong@iccas.ac.cn.
¹¹ College of Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang, 330031, China. ywchen@ncu.edu.cn.
¹² Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Avenue, Nanchang, 330031, China. ywchen@ncu.edu.cn.
¹³ Institute of Advanced Scientific Research (iASR), Jiangxi Normal University, 99 Ziyang Avenue, Nanchang, 330022, China. ywchen@ncu.edu.cn.

Abstract

The translation of unparalleled efficiency from the lab-scale devices to practical-scale flexible modules affords a huge performance loss for flexible perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The degradation is attributed to the brittleness and discrepancy of perovskite crystal growth upon different substrates. Inspired by robust crystallization and flexible structure of vertebrae, herein, we employ a conductive and glued polymer between indium tin oxide and perovskite layers, which simultaneously facilitates oriented crystallization of perovskite and sticks the devices. With the results of experimental characterizations and theoretical simulations, this bionic interface layer accurately controls the crystallization and acts as an adhesive. The flexible PSCs achieve the power conversion efficiencies of 19.87% and 17.55% at effective areas of 1.01 cm² and 31.20 cm² respectively, retaining over 85% of original efficiency after 7000 narrow bending cycles with negligible angular dependence. Finally, the modules are assembled into a wearable solar-power source, enabling the upscaling of flexible electronics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't