Low-loss contacts on textured substrates for inverted perovskite solar cells

So Min Park; Mingyang Wei; Nikolaos Lempesis; Wenjin Yu; Tareq Hossain; Lorenzo Agosta; Virginia Carnevali; Harindi R Atapattu; Peter Serles; Felix T Eickemeyer; Heejong Shin; Maral Vafaie; Deokjae Choi; Kasra Darabi; Eui Dae Jung; Yi Yang; Da Bin Kim; Shaik M Zakeeruddin; Bin Chen; Aram Amassian; Tobin Filleter; Mercouri G Kanatzidis; Kenneth R Graham; Lixin Xiao; Ursula Rothlisberger; Michael Grätzel; Edward H Sargent

doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06745-7

Low-loss contacts on textured substrates for inverted perovskite solar cells

Nature. 2023 Dec;624(7991):289-294. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06745-7. Epub 2023 Oct 23.

Authors

So Min Park^#^{1

2}, Mingyang Wei^#³, Nikolaos Lempesis^#⁴, Wenjin Yu⁵, Tareq Hossain⁶, Lorenzo Agosta⁴, Virginia Carnevali⁴, Harindi R Atapattu⁶, Peter Serles⁷, Felix T Eickemeyer³, Heejong Shin¹, Maral Vafaie², Deokjae Choi¹, Kasra Darabi⁸, Eui Dae Jung², Yi Yang¹, Da Bin Kim², Shaik M Zakeeruddin³, Bin Chen¹, Aram Amassian⁸, Tobin Filleter⁷, Mercouri G Kanatzidis¹, Kenneth R Graham⁶, Lixin Xiao⁵, Ursula Rothlisberger⁴, Michael Grätzel⁹, Edward H Sargent^{10

11

12}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
² Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
³ Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁴ Laboratory of Computational Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁵ State Key Laboratory for Artificial Microstructure and Mesoscopic Physics, Department of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, P. R. China.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
⁷ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
⁸ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Organic and Carbon Electronics Laboratories (ORaCEL), North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
⁹ Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. michael.graetzel@epfl.ch.
¹⁰ Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. ted.sargent@northwestern.edu.
¹¹ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ted.sargent@northwestern.edu.
¹² Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. ted.sargent@northwestern.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 37871614
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06745-7

Abstract

Inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs) promise enhanced operating stability compared to their normal-structure counterparts^1-3. To improve efficiency further, it is crucial to combine effective light management with low interfacial losses^4,5. Here we develop a conformal self-assembled monolayer (SAM) as the hole-selective contact on light-managing textured substrates. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that cluster formation during phosphonic acid adsorption leads to incomplete SAM coverage. We devise a co-adsorbent strategy that disassembles high-order clusters, thus homogenizing the distribution of phosphonic acid molecules, and thereby minimizing interfacial recombination and improving electronic structures. We report a laboratory-measured power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 25.3% and a certified quasi-steady-state PCE of 24.8% for inverted PSCs, with a photocurrent approaching 95% of the Shockley-Queisser maximum. An encapsulated device having a PCE of 24.6% at room temperature retains 95% of its peak performance when stressed at 65 °C and 50% relative humidity following more than 1,000 h of maximum power point tracking under 1 sun illumination. This represents one of the most stable PSCs subjected to accelerated ageing: achieved with a PCE surpassing 24%. The engineering of phosphonic acid adsorption on textured substrates offers a promising avenue for efficient and stable PSCs. It is also anticipated to benefit other optoelectronic devices that require light management.