This study is led by Dr. Wu from East China University of Science and Technology. The development of efficient, stable and low-cost hole-transporting materials (HTMs) is crucial for the commercialization of perovskite solar cells, which have been demonstrated with very high sunlight-to-electricity efficiency but still suffer from stability issues.
Incorporating chemically anchorable groups onto hole-transporting molecules is a feasible strategy for developing new generation of HTMs that form SAM on transparent conductive oxide (such as indium tin oxide, ITO) to function as efficient hole-selective contact for perovskite solar cells (PSCs).
However, the strongly acidic anchor in state-of-the-art SAM is detrimental to the stability of interfaces and devices. In this regard, Huanxin Guo together with lab director Prof. Yongzhen Wu attempted to use alternative anchoring groups to construct hole-selective SAMs.
The team found that the boric acid can establish robust B-O-M (M means metal) linkage on the ITO surface via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The negative Gibbs free energy of the dissociative adsorption suggested a spontaneous formation of SAM on ITO surface. "This XPS and first-principles simulation support the presence of covalent linkage between the boric acid and ITO surface, and the acidity-weakened boric acid should be competent as a new anchor" Huanxin says.
The researchers examined the effectiveness of boric acid anchoring SAM on inverted PSCs. There is a perfect contact between the boric acid SAM and perovskite layer, resulting a high-quality and coherent perovskite-substrate interface.
The PSC device employing boric acid SAM thus achieving a power conversion efficiency over 22% with remarkable fill factor up to 85.2%. More importantly, the boric acid SAM enabled an excellent long-term stability of PSCs when storing in air. The sheet resistance of recycled ITO substrate in aged PSC devices with boric acid SAM showed that the suppressed acidity corrosion.
"These exciting results confirm that the boric acid group will open new avenues for the development and design of hole-selective SAM for efficient and stable PSCs," Huanxin says.
Research Report:Neglected acidity pitfall: boric acid-anchoring hole-selective contact for perovskite solar cells
Artificial Intelligence Analysis
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Analyst Summary
: This study, led by Dr. Wu from East China University of Science and Technology, explored the use of boric acid anchoring SAM (self-assembled monolayers) on transparent conductive oxide (ITO) surfaces as a feasible strategy for developing new generation of hole-transporting materials (HTMs) for perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The team found that the boric acid can form robust B O M (M means metal) linkage on the ITO surface, resulting in a negative Gibbs free energy of dissociative adsorption that suggests spontaneous formation of SAM on ITO surface. The researchers examined the effectiveness of boric acid anchoring SAM on inverted PSCs and found that it resulted in a power conversion efficiency of over 22%, with remarkable fill factor of up to 85.2%. Importantly, the boric acid SAM enabled excellent long-term stability of PSCs when stored in air.This research is significant in that it provides an alternative and more stable approach to developing efficient HTMs for PSCs. Over the past 25 years, there have been major advancements in the space and defense industry, including the development of solar cells, improvements in fuel efficiency, and the introduction of new materials and technologies. This article is closely related to these advancements, as it discusses the use of boric acid anchoring SAM which could enable more efficient and stable solar cells. Investigative
Question:
- 1. How do the properties of boric acid SAM compare to other anchoring materials used for HTMs?
- 2. What are the potential applications of boric acid SAM in other fields?
- 3.
Are there any drawbacks to using boric acid SAM for HTMs? 4. What other strategies could be used to improve the stability of interfaces and devices?
5. How could the results of this research be used to develop more efficient PSCs?
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