Browsing by Author "Li, Gang"

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A novel ball milling technique for room temperature processing of TiO2 nanoparticles employed as the electron transport layer in perovskite solar cells and modules
(2018-04-28)
Singh, Mriganka
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Chiang, Chien-Hung
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Boopathi, Karunakara Moorthy
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Hanmandlu, Chintam
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Li, Gang
Anatase titanium dioxide (an-TiO2) is often used as the electron transporting material (ETM) in planar-heterojunction perovskite solar cells (PSCs) because of its excellent semiconductor characteristics, outstanding optical transmittance, and suitable band structure. Herein, we report an inexpensive method for mass-scale production of TiO2 ETMs at room temperature (RT similar to 30 degrees C), involving the grinding of large clumps of an-TiO2 to form a suspension of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) in isopropyl alcohol for meso-superstructured PSCs. This process does not involve any chemical synthesis; it is a purely physical process. The lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of ground an-TiO2 NPs, estimated using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), was ca. 4.06 eV, which is a salient feature for the active layer. A regular perovskite solar cell (PSC) based on a CH3NH3PbI3 absorber and ground an-TiO2 ETL exhibited a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.43% with an active area of 0.1 cm(2). The same ground an-TiO2 NPs were used to fabricate a large-area (designated area: 25.2 cm(2)) PSC and a PCE of 14.19% was achieved. PSC devices incorporating the ground an-TiO2 NP ETLs exhibited an attractive long-term device stability, with the PCE retaining approximately 85% of the initial values after 80 days.
Facile synthesis of composite tin oxide nanostructures for high-performance planar perovskite solar cells
(2019-06-01)
Singh, Mriganka
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Ng, Annie
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Ren, Zhiwei
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Hu, Hanlin
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Lin, Hong-Cheu
Metal oxide carrier transporting layers have been investigated widely in organic/inorganic lead halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Tin oxide (SnO2) is a promising alternative to the titanium dioxide commonly used in the electron transporting layer (ETL), due to its tunable carrier concentration, high electron mobility, amenability to low-temperature annealing processing, and large energy bandgap. In this study, a facile method was developed for the preparation of a room-temperature-processed SnO2 electron transporting material that provided a high-quality ETL, leading to PSCs displaying high power conversion efficiency (PCE) and stability. A novel physical ball milling method was first employed to prepare chemically pure ground SnO2 nanoparticles (G-SnO2), and a sol-gel process was used to prepare a compact SnO2 (C-SnO2) layer. The effects of various types of ETLs (C-SnO2, G-SnO2, composite G-SnO2/C-SnO2) on the performance of the PSCs are investigated. The composite SnO2 nanostructure formed a robust ETL having efficient carrier transport properties; accordingly, carrier recombination between the ETL and mixed perovskite was inhibited. PSCs incorporating C-SnO2, G-SnO2, and GSnO(2)/C-SnO2 as ETLs provided PCEs of 16.46, 17.92, and 21.09%, respectively. In addition to their high efficiency, the devices featuring the composite SnO2 (G-SnO2/C-SnO2) nanostructures possessed excellent long-term stability-they maintained 89% (with encapsulation) and 83% (without encapsulation) of their initial PCEs after 105 days ( > 2500 h) and 60 days ( > 1400 h), respectively, when stored under dry ambient air (20 +/- 5 RH %).
High-Efficiency Organic Tandem Solar Cells With Effective Transition Metal Chelates Interconnecting Layer
(2017-10-01)
Chang, Sheng-Yung
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Lin, Yu-Che
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Sun, Pengyu
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Hsieh, Yao-Tsung
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Meng, Lei
Organic tandem solar cells have two sub-cells vertically connected via a tunnel junction (or interconnecting layer, ICL), which the ICL plays a critical role of determining the performance of the tandem cell. In this manuscript, we report a new design of the ICL consisting of zirconium (IV) acetylacetonate (Zr-Acac) as the electron transport layer. The Zr-Acac has a suitable work function to pin the Fermi-level of the ICL and hence, can effectively behave as the charge recombination function for the tandem device. Comparing to the reference device consisting of ZnO ETL layer, the Zr-Acac ICL can effectively enhance the efficiency by 20%, from 8.4 to 10.1% power conversion efficiencies. More importantly, the Zr-Acac ETL layer functions effectively without thermal annealing, which not only simplifies the tandem solar cell processing, but also widens the front sub-cell material selection.
The investigation of donor-acceptor compatibility in bulk-heterojunction polymer systems
(2013-07-22)
Huang, Jen-Hsien
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Hsiao, Yu-Sheng
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Richard, Eric
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Chen, Chun-Chao
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Chen, Peilin
The fullerene derivative, indene-C-60 bisadduct (ICBA), has been introduced into poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) to improve the efficiency of P3HT-based devices. However, we found that ICBA is not suitable for most low bandgap polymers. In this study, we have correlated the cell performance with surface energy between the donor and acceptor materials in a bulk-heterojunction cell. These results show that higher photocurrent can be attributed to the morphology improvement induced by larger surface energy difference (Delta gamma) between the low bandgap polymer and fullerene. These results also suggest that synthetic strategies which adjust the Delta gamma between donor and acceptor should be considered. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.
Vertical Phase Separation in Poly(3-hexylthiophene): Fullerene Derivative Blends and its Advantage for Inverted Structure Solar Cells
(2009-04-23)
Xu, Zheng
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Chen, Li-Min
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Yang, Guanwen
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Huang, Chun-Hao
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Hou, Jianhui
A method which enables the investigation of the buried interfaces without altering the properties of the polymer films is used to study vertical phase separation of spin-coated poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):fullerene derivative blends. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis reveals the P3HT enrichment at the free (air) surfaces and abundance of fullerene derivatives at the organic/substrate interfaces. The vertical phase separation is attributed to the surface energy difference of the components and their interactions with the substrates. This inhomogeneous distribution of the donor and acceptor components significantly affects photovoltaic device performance and makes the inverted device structure a promising choice.