Development of metal oxide-based charge transport layer for high performance and stable perovskite solar cells

There are several immerging photovoltaic (PV) technologies, which are seen as possible alternatives. Perovskite (PVT)-based solar cells showed the most promising results amon...ng these technologies. The certified power conversion efficiency (PCE) of single-junction PSC has reached over 25% in a short span of time. Due to the low crystal formation process and presence of large organic cation, this material is sensitive to moisture and air and has stability issues at very high operating temperatures. To address these concerns the charge-transporting layer (CTL) plays a key role in protecting the PVT layer from direct exposure to the natural environment, which eventually improves the overall stability of the PSC. Among the different options, inorganic metal oxides (MO) have better carrier mobility and superior stability and at the same time much cheaper. Usually, the n-type materials are used as electron-transporting materials (ETMs) and the p-type materials are used as hole transport materials (HTMs). In the case of the HTM, plane oxide-based films showed high resistivity during operation, which is a critical limitation of these materials. Therefore, extrinsic dopants are required to enhance hole mobility. Whereas, ETM is a must for the PSCs and researchers are looking for a cheaper alternative to TiO2. However, a great deal of effort is required in designing complex nanostructures that can achieve high open-circuit voltage (Voc) and high fill factor (FF) of the PSCs. Therefore, several MO-based nanoparticles (NPs) will be synthesized in this project. The n-type and p-type MO NPs will be used as the electron transporting layer (ETL) and hole transporting layer (HTL), respectively to achieve stable PSCs. Furthermore, using the optical and electrical properties of ETLs/HTLs, the perovskite-based solar cells will be simulated to optimize the processing conditions.