Spiro‐Phenylpyrazole‐9,9′‐Thioxanthene Analogues as Hole‐Transporting Materials for Efficient Planar Perovskite Solar Cells

Abstract

Perovskite solar cells have emerged as a promising technique for low‐cost, light weight, and highly efficient photovoltaics. However, they still largely rely on 2,2′,7,7′‐tetrakis(N,N‐di‐p‐methoxyphenylamine)‐9,9′‐spirobifluorene (Spiro‐OMeTAD) to serve as hole‐transporting materials (HTMs). Here, a series of HTMs with small molecular weight is designed, which are constructed on a spiro core involving phenylpyrazole and a second heteroaromatics, i.e., xanthene (O atom), thioxanthene (S atom), and acridine (N atom). Through varying from phenylpyrazole substituted xanthene (PPyra‐XA), thioxanthene (PPyra‐TXA), to acridine (PPyra‐ACD), their optical and electrochemical properties, hole mobilities, and the photovoltaic performance are optimized. As a consequence, PPyra‐TXA based device exhibits the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.06%, outperforming that of Spiro‐OMeTAD (16.15%), which could be attributed to the enhancement of hole mobility exerted by the thioxanthene. In addition, the dopant‐free device shows PCE of 11.7%. These results open a new direction for designing spiro‐HTMs by simple modification of chemical structures.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jun 09, 2017
Source ID
10.1002/aenm.201700823

Entities

People

  • Alex K.‐y. Jen
  • Chu‐chen Chueh
  • Yang Wang
  • Yun Chi
  • Zonglong Zhu

Organizations

  • City University of Hong Kong
  • National Science and Technology Council
  • National Tsing Hua University
  • Office of Naval Research
  • United States Department of Energy
  • University of Washington

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Chemistry

Readers

  • Nanoscale Plasmonic Nanotechnology
  • Solar Photovoltaics and Thermoelectric Devices.
  • Theoretical Analysis.