Effects of polyethylene oxide particles on the photo-physical properties and stability of FA-rich perovskite solar cells

Richard K Koech; Yusuf A Olanrewaju; Reisya Ichwani; Moses Kigozi; Deborah O Oyewole; Omolara V Oyelade; Dahiru M Sanni; Sharafadeen A Adeniji; Erika Colin-Ulloa; Lyubov V Titova; Julia L Martin; Ronald L Grimm; Abdulhakeem Bello; Oluwaseun K Oyewole; Esidor Ntsoenzok; Winston O Soboyejo

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-15923-y

Effects of polyethylene oxide particles on the photo-physical properties and stability of FA-rich perovskite solar cells

Sci Rep. 2022 Jul 27;12(1):12860. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-15923-y.

Authors

Richard K Koech^{1

2

3}, Yusuf A Olanrewaju^{1

2}, Reisya Ichwani^{2

4}, Moses Kigozi¹, Deborah O Oyewole^{2

4}, Omolara V Oyelade^{2

5}, Dahiru M Sanni⁵, Sharafadeen A Adeniji⁵, Erika Colin-Ulloa⁶, Lyubov V Titova⁶, Julia L Martin⁷, Ronald L Grimm⁷, Abdulhakeem Bello^{1

5

8}, Oluwaseun K Oyewole^{9

10}, Esidor Ntsoenzok¹¹, Winston O Soboyejo^{12

13

14

15}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, African University of Science and Technology, Km. 10 Airport Road, Abuja, Nigeria.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA.
³ Department of Mathematics, Physics and Computing, Moi University, P.O Box 3900-30100, Eldoret, Kenya.
⁴ Program in Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA.
⁵ Department of Theoretical and Applied Physics, African University of Science and Technology, Km 10 Airport Road, Abuja, Nigeria.
⁶ Department of Physics, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA.
⁷ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Life Science and Engineering Center, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA.
⁸ Centre for Cyber Physical Food, Energy and Water System (CCP-FEWS), Electrical and Electronic Engineering Science, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa.
⁹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA. okoyewole@wpi.edu.
¹⁰ Program in Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA. okoyewole@wpi.edu.
¹¹ CEMHTI-CNRS Site Cyclotron, 3A rue de la férollerie, 45071, Orléans, France.
¹² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA. wsoboyejo@wpi.edu.
¹³ Program in Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA. wsoboyejo@wpi.edu.
¹⁴ CEMHTI-CNRS Site Cyclotron, 3A rue de la férollerie, 45071, Orléans, France. wsoboyejo@wpi.edu.
¹⁵ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Gateway Park Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 60 Prescott Street, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA. wsoboyejo@wpi.edu.

Abstract

In this paper, we use Polyethylene Oxide (PEO) particles to control the morphology of Formamidinium (FA)-rich perovskite films and achieve large grains with improved optoelectronic properties. Consequently, a planar perovskite solar cell (PSC) is fabricated with additions of 5 wt% of PEO, and the highest PCE of 18.03% was obtained. This solar cell is also shown to retain up to 80% of its initial PCE after about 140 h of storage under the ambient conditions (average relative humidity of 62.5 ± 3.25%) in an unencapsulated state. Furthermore, the steady-state PCE of the PEO-modified PSC device remained stable for long (over 2500 s) under continuous illumination. This addition of PEO particles is shown to enable the tuning of the optoelectronic properties of perovskite films, improvements in the overall photophysical properties of PSCs, and an increase in resistance to the degradation of PSCs.

Abstract

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