Tetrabutylammonium cations for moisture-resistant and semitransparent perovskite solar cells

Isabella Poli, Salvador Eslava, Petra Cameron

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Perovskite solar cells have gained increasing interest, especially after reaching performances which are comparable with mature silicon PV technologies. However, the perovskite crystalline structure CH3NH3PbI3 is unstable in the presence of moisture, which leads to fast degradation under ambient conditions. The commercialisation of perovskite solar cells will only be achieved with the engineering of long term stable materials. We report a modified perovskite absorber layer obtained by adding methylammonium iodide (MAI) and tetrabutylammonium (TBA) iodide. The incorporation of TBA improves the film coverage, reducing the number of pinholes. X-ray diffraction analysis suggests that, in common with other mixed larger cation perovskites, two distinct phases coexist: a 3D perovskite material and a 2D layered material. The TBA containing perovskite films showed improved hydrophobicity, which contributed to significantly higher moisture stability. The cells maintained their original PCE after 45 days under ambient conditions without encapsulation. In comparison, the CH3NH3PbX3 3D perovskite device lost more than 60% of its original efficiency over the same time.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 665992 
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)22325-22333
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Materials Chemistry A
Volume5
Issue number42
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Oct 2017

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