New generation hole transporting materials for perovskite solar cells: amide-based small-molecules with nonconjugated backbones

Petrus, M. L. et al. (2018) New generation hole transporting materials for perovskite solar cells: amide-based small-molecules with nonconjugated backbones. Advanced Energy Materials, 8(32), 1801605. (doi: 10.1002/aenm.201801605)

Abstract

State‐of‐the‐art perovskite‐based solar cells employ expensive, organic hole transporting materials (HTMs) such as Spiro‐OMeTAD that, in turn, limits the commercialization of this promising technology. Herein an HTM (EDOT‐Amide‐TPA) is reported in which a functional amide‐based backbone is introduced, which allows this material to be synthesized in a simple condensation reaction with an estimated cost of <$5 g−1. When employed in perovskite solar cells, EDOT‐Amide‐TPA demonstrates stabilized power conversion efficiencies up to 20.0% and reproducibly outperforms Spiro‐OMeTAD in direct comparisons. Time resolved microwave conductivity measurements indicate that the observed improvement originates from a faster hole injection rate from the perovskite to EDOT‐Amide‐TPA. Additionally, the devices exhibit an improved lifetime, which is assigned to the coordination of the amide bond to the Li‐additive, offering a novel strategy to hamper the migration of additives. It is shown that, despite the lack of a conjugated backbone, the amide‐based HTM can outperform state‐of‐the‐art HTMs at a fraction of the cost, thereby providing a novel set of design strategies to develop new, low‐cost HTMs.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This project was financed by a grant from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the project ID 03SF0516B. The authors acknowledge funding from the Bavarian Collaborative Research Program “Solar Technologies Go Hybrid” (SolTech), the Center for NanoScience (CeNS), the DFG Excellence Cluster “Nanosystems Initiative Munich” (NIM), the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Docampo, Dr Pablo
• Authors: Petrus, M. L., Schutt, K., Sirtl, M. T., Hutter, E. M., Closs, A. C., Ball, J. M., Bijleveld, J. C., Petrozza, A., Bein, T., Dingemans, T. J., Savenije, T. J., Snaith, H., and Docampo, P.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Chemistry
• Journal Name: Advanced Energy Materials
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 1614-6832
• ISSN (Online): 1614-6840
• Published Online: 08 October 2018
• First Published: First published in Advanced Energy Materials 8(32):1801605
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy