Credit: Jin Yang
Scientists in China and Sweden have determined that a pinch of capsaicin, the chemical compound that gives chili peppers their spicy sting, may be a secret ingredient for more stable and efficient perovskite solar cells. The research, published January 13 in the journal
Joule, determined that sprinkling capsaicin into the precursor of methylammonium lead triiodide (MAPbI3) perovskite during the manufacturing process led to a greater abundance of electrons (instead of empty placeholders) to conduct current at the semiconductor s surface. The addition resulted in polycrystalline MAPbI3 solar cells with the most efficient charge transport to date. In the future, green and sustainable forest-based biomaterial additive technology will be a clear trend in non-toxic lead-free perovskite materials, says Qinye Bao, a senior author of the study from East China Normal University. We hope this will eventually yield a fully green perovskite solar cell for a clean energy so
Abstract
One big challenge for long-lived inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is that commonly used metal electrodes react with perovskite layer, inducing electrode corrosion and device degradation. Motivated by the idea of metal anticorrosion, here, we propose a chemical anticorrosion strategy to fabricate stable inverted PSCs through introducing a typical organic corrosion inhibitor of benzotriazole (BTA) before Cu electrode deposition. BTA molecules chemically coordinate to the Cu electrode and form an insoluble and polymeric film of [BTA-Cu], suppressing the electrochemical corrosion and reaction between perovskite and the Cu electrode. PSCs with BTA/Cu show excellent air stability, retaining 92.8 ± 1.9% of initial efficiency after aging for 2500 hours. In addition, >90% of initial efficiency is retained after 85°C aging for over 1000 hours. PSCs with BTA/Cu also exhibit good operational stability, and 88.6 ± 2.6% of initial efficiency is retained after continuous maximum