Enhanced Thermal Stability of Low-Temperature Processed Carbon-Based Perovskite Solar Cells by a Combined Antisolvent/Polymer Deposition Method

Low-temperature processed carbon-based perovskite solar cells have received great attention due to low-cost, high stability, and simple preparation processes that can be employed in large-scale manufacturing. Carbon paste is deposited by techniques such as doctor blading or screen printing. However, solvents from this paste can damage the perovskite or underlying layers resulting in poor performance of solar cells. Furthermore, carbon is not an ideal hole-selective contact. To overcome these issues, the antisolvent treatment is combined with the deposition of a polymeric hole conductor. Specifically, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), added into the chlorobenzene antisolvent, improves perovskite morphology and reduces interfacial carrier recombination. As a result, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solar cells with the device structure SnO2/MAPbI(3)/P3HT/carbon increases to 12.16% from 10.6% of pristine devices without P3HT, using pure antisolvent. For poly(triarylamine) hole conductor in the same method, PCE improves only slightly to 11.1%. After 260 h of thermal stress at 82 degrees C, the P3HT-additive devices improve PCE up to 13.2% in air and maintain 91% of their initial efficiency over 800 h.