Abstract
Solar electricity is an unlimited source of sustainable fuels, yet the efficiency of solar cells is limited. The efficiency of perovskite solar cells improved from 3.9% to reach 25.5% in just a few years. Perovskite solar cells are actually viewed as promising by comparison with dye-sensitized solar cells, organic solar cells, and the traditional solar cells made of silicon, GaAs, copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS), and CdTe. Here, we review bare and doped metal oxide electron transport layers in the perovskite solar cells. Charge transfer layers have been found essential to control the performance of perovskite solar cells by tuning carrier extraction, transportation, and recombination. Both electron and hole transport layers should be used for charge separation and transport. TiO2 and 2,2′,7,7′-Tetrakis[N,N-di(4-methoxyphenyl)amino]-9,9′-spirobifluorene are considered as the best electron and hole transport layers. Metal oxide materials, either bare or doped with different metals, are stable, cheap, and effective.
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Abbreviations
- PSCs:
-
Perovskite solar cells
- DSSCs:
-
Dye-sensitized solar cells
- OSCs:
-
Organic solar cells
- ETL:
-
Electron transport layer
- HTL:
-
Hole transport layer
- V oc :
-
Open-circuit voltage
- J sc :
-
Short-circuit current
- FF:
-
Fill factor
- PCE:
-
Power conversion efficiency
- MA+ :
-
Methyl ammonium
- FA+ :
-
Formadinium
- PCBM:
-
Phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester
- Spiro-OMeTAD:
-
2,2′,7,7′-Tetrakis-(N,N-di-4-methoxyphenylamino)-9,9′-spirobifluorene
- PEDOT:PSS:
-
Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrene-sulfonate)
- PTAA:
-
Poly[bis(4-phenyl)(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)amine]
- PDI:
-
Perylenediimide
- PEI:
-
Poly(ethyleneimine)
- PCBA:
-
[6,6]-Phenyl-C61-butyric acid
- A:
-
Anatase
- R:
-
Rutile
- AR:
-
Anatase/rutile
- RA:
-
Rutile/anatase
- XRD:
-
X-ray diffraction
- XPS:
-
X-ray photoemission spectroscopy
- SEM:
-
Scanning electron microscopy
- TEM:
-
Transmission electron microscopy
- EDS:
-
Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy
- AFM:
-
Atomic force microscopy
- RMS roughness:
-
Root mean square roughness
- UV:
-
Ultraviolet
- Vis:
-
Visible
- FTO:
-
Fluorine-doped tin oxide
- ITO:
-
Indium tin oxide
- UPS:
-
Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy
- TiO2 NRs:
-
TiO2 nanorods
- LUMO:
-
Low unoccupied molecular orbital
- HOMO:
-
High occupied molecular oribtal
- AZO:
-
Aluminum-doped ZnO
- CBD:
-
Chemical bath deposition
- ALD:
-
Atomic layer deposition
- rGO:
-
Reduced graphene oxide
- Au:
-
Gold
- Ag:
-
Silver
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Acknowledgements
AES is currently on leave from CMRDI. The authors gratefully acknowledge the partial support from the Research Council of the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST). Furthermore, AES would like to thank the National Research grants from MINECO, Spain, ‘‘Juan de la Cierva’’ [FJCI-2018-037717].
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Valadi, K., Gharibi, S., Taheri-Ledari, R. et al. Metal oxide electron transport materials for perovskite solar cells: a review. Environ Chem Lett 19, 2185–2207 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-020-01171-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-020-01171-x