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. 2020 Jun 10;13(3):256–264. doi: 10.1007/s12200-020-1013-3

Influence of precursor concentration on printable mesoscopic perovskite solar cells

Shuangquan Jiang 1,#, Yusong Sheng 1,#, Yue Hu 1, Yaoguang Rong 1, Anyi Mei 1,✉, Hongwei Han 1
PMCID: PMC9743904  PMID: 36641571

Abstract

Over the last decade, the power conversion efficiency of hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has increased dramatically from 3.8% to 25.2%. This rapid progress has been possible due to the accurate control of the morphology and crystallinity of solution-processed perovskites, which are significantly affected by the concentration of the precursor used. This study explores the influence of precursor concentrations on the performance of printable hole-conductor-free mesoscopic PSCs via a simple one-step drop-coating method. The results reveal that lower concentrations lead to larger grains with inferior pore filling, while higher concentrations result in smaller grains with improved pore filling. Among concentrations ranging from 0.24–1.20 M1), devices based on a moderate strength of 0.70 M were confirmed to exhibit the best efficiency at 16.32%.

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Keywords: printable perovskite solar cell (PSC), precursor concentration, crystallization, morphology

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 91733301, 51902117, and 21702069), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, the Science and Technology Department of Hubei Province (No. 2017AAA190), the 111 Project (No. B07038), and the Program for Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) Academic Frontier Youth Team (No. 2016QYTD06). We thank the Analytical and Testing Center of HUST for performing various characterization and measurements.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest to declare.

Footnotes

Shuangquan Jiang is a master degree candidate in Optics Engineering at Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China. He received his B.Sc. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Xiangtan University, China in 2017. His current research interest is printable mesoscopic perovskite solar cells.

Yusong Sheng is a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Prof. Hongwei Han at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China. He received his Ph.D. degree in Optical Engineering (2018) from HUST, China. His current research focuses on the mixed hybrid perovskite materials and stability of printable mesoscopic perovskite solar cell.

Yue Hu is an Associate Professor at Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China. She got her B.Sc. degree in Applied Chemistry from East China University of Science and Technology, China and completed her Ph.D. degree in Chemistry in 2016 under the guidance of Prof. Neil Robertson at The University of Edinburgh, UK. She joined HUST, China in 2016 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018. Her current research focuses on the designing and synthesizing novel photoactive materials for photovoltaics. She had published more than 50 scientific papers. She was honored a Fraser and Stoddart Prize in 2017.

Yaoguang Rong is an Associate Professor at Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China. He received his B.Sc. degree in Material Physics from Wuhan University, China in 2009, and Ph.D. degree in Optics Engineering from HUST, China in 2014. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at University of Houston, USA. In 2016, he joined WNLO/HUST, China. His main research interests include perovskite solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells, and mesoscopic structure materials.

Anyi Mei is an Associate Professor at Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China. He received his B.E. degree in Materials Science and Engineering (2013) and Ph.D. degree in Optical Engineering (2018) from HUST, China. His current research interests are focused on printable mesoscopic perovskite solar cells and related materials.

Hongwei Han is a Professor at Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), China. He received his B.Sc. degree in Applied Chemistry and Ph.D. degree in Condensed Matter Physics from Wuhan University, China in 2000 and 2005, respectively. Later, he stayed in Wuhan University as a lecturer. And then he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Monash University in Australia for two years. In 2008, he joined WNLO/HUST, China. His research interests are printable photovoltaics & optoelectronics, especially printable mesoscopic solar cells.

These authors contributed equally

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