Improved Comprehensive Photovoltaic Performance and Mechanisms by Additive Engineering of Ti3C2Tx MXene into CsPbI2Br

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Sep 14;14(36):40930-40938. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c10417. Epub 2022 Sep 1.

Abstract

CsPbI2Br is promising in the application of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) owing to its reasonable bandgap and good thermal stability. However, the reported power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the CsPbI2Br solar cells is still much lower than that of the organic-inorganic hybrid PSCs, mainly due to relatively poor CsPbI2Br crystal quality. Herein, additive engineering to the photoactive layer of CsPbI2Br using the Ti3C2Tx MXene nanosheets is reported. Thanks to the improved crystallinity/reduced defect density, together with the formation of the Schottky junction between the MXene nanosheets and CsPbI2Br, enhanced separation and transfer of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs can be achieved for optimal MXene addition. A simple device configuration of ITO/SnO2/Ti3C2Tx-added CsPbI2Br/P3HT/Ag can thus deliver a significantly boosted PCE of 15.10%, i.e., a ∼16.69% relative increment compared with that (12.94%) of the control device without adding MXene. In addition, the enhanced humidity resistance is achieved for the MXene-added CsPbI2Br layers.

Keywords: CsPbI2Br perovskite solar cells; Ti3C2Tx MXene; additive engineering; improved comprehensive performance; increased crystallinity.