Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) have developed a method to make hole transport layer material (HTL), spiro-OMeTAD, often used in perovskite solar cells, less prone to heat-induced crystallization.
Using vapor phase infiltration (VPI), a GIT team embedded titanium oxide/hydroxide (TiOx) into spiro-OMeTAD, a typical organic HTL material, to make the film more resilient to heat, and in turn more stable.
VPI is a deposition technique related to atomic layer deposition (ALD) that can form organic-inorganic hybrid materials with unique properties. The researchers observed that the perovskite layer in a PSC stack can endure temperatures as high as 120 C, but the spiro-OMeTAD HTL may start crystallizing after multiple heating cycles at only 70 C.
The novel VPI method reportedly hinders this type of crystallization resulting in devices that reportedly retained more than 80% of their original efficiency after a stability test of 200 h at 75 C. The result is double the efficiency retention compared to non-infiltrated perovskite solar cells, according to the team.
“We are currently looking for partners to license this technology, and for scaling up of the process. The idea is that we can scale up this process to infiltrate panels, not just small area cells,” Juan Pablo Correa-Baena, Georgia Tech associate professor, told pv magazine.
The technology is now under patent review. A paper was published in 2023 describing research that is related to the patent, “Vapor Phase Infiltration Improves Thermal Stability of Organic Layers in Perovskite Solar Cells,” in ACS Energy Letters.
“We are trying to expand on this and apply this type of process to other materials beyond solar cells. For example, any type of organic electronics would benefit from this process,” Correa-Baena said when asked about further research.
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