The primary challenge for the commercialization of hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is their chemical and thermal instability as compared to Si devices. Herein, we demonstrate that PSCs spray-coated with polystyrene retain 80% of their efficiency after 40 hours immersed in water or at 95 degrees C.

The excited state dynamics of Tris(2,2 '-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) hexafluorophosphate, [Ru(bpy)(3)(PF6)(2)], was investigated on the surface of bare and sensitized TiO2 and ZrO2 films. The organic dyes LEG4 and MKA253 were selected as sensitizers. A Stern-Volmer plot of LEG4-sensitized TiO2 substrates with a spin-coated [Ru(bpy)(3)(PF6)(2)] layer on top shows considerable quenching of the emission of the latter. Interestingly, time-resolved emission spectroscopy reveals the presence of a fast-decay time component (25 +/- 5 ns), which is absent when the anatase TiO2 semiconductor is replaced by ZrO2. It should be specified that the positive redox potential of the ruthenium complex prevents electron transfer from the [Ru(bpy)(3)(PF6)(2)] ground state into the oxidized sensitizer. Therefore, we speculate that the fast-decay time component observed stems from excited-state electron transfer from [Ru(bpy)(3)(PF6)(2)] to the oxidized sensitizer. Solid-state dye sensitized solar cells (ssDSSCs) employing MKA253 and LEG4 dyes, with [Ru(bpy)(3)(PF6)(2)] as a hole-transporting material (HTM), exhibit 1.2 % and 1.1 % power conversion efficiency, respectively. This result illustrates the possibility of the hypothesized excited-state electron transfer.

Four different functional groups including amino (-NH2), phosphine (-PH2), hydroxyl (-OH), and thiol (-SH) were combined with POSS (polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane) molecules to investigate how functional groups affect the surface passivation of POSS systems. Results from density-functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that functional group amino (-NH2) with adsorption energy 86 (56) kJ mol(-1) is consistently better than that of thiol (-SH) with adsorption energy 68 (43) kJ mor(-1) for different passivation mechanisms. Theoretical studies on the analogous POSS-OH and POSS-PH2 systems show similar adsorption energies. Two of the systems were also investigated experimentally; aminopropyl isobutyl POSS (POSS-NH2) and mercaptopropyl isobutyl POSS (POSS-SH) were applied as passivation materials for MAPbI(3) (MA = methylammonium) perovskite and (FA)(0.85)(MA)(0.15)Pb(I-3)(0.85)(Br-3)(0)(.15)(FA = formamidinium) perovskite films. The same conclusion was drawn based on the results from contact angle studies, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the stability of solar cells in ambient atmosphere, indicating the vital importance of choice of functional groups for passivation of the perovskite materials.

Highly efficient perovskite solar cells have been characterized by current-density/voltage measurements in the dark at varied scan rates. The results were compared to the solar cells without a hole-transporting layer to investigate the role of ultrathin hole-transporting layers in solar-cell function. The parameters of internal voltage, diode ideality factor, capacitive current, and capacitance were calculated from the current-density/voltage response of the cells in the dark. The results show that the absence of the hole-transporting layer can cause a large recombination current within the depletion region at the gold contact/perovskite interface, and thus affects the cell performance.

Triphenylamine-based metal complexes were designed and synthesized via coordination to Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) using their respective acetate salts as the starting materials. The resulting metal complexes exhibit more negative energy levels (vs vacuum) as compared to 2,2', 7,7'-tetrakis(N, N-di-p-methoxyphenylamine)-9,9'-spirobifluorene (Spiro-OMeTAD), high hole extraction efficiency, but low hole mobilities and conductivities. Application of dopants typically used for Spiro-OMeTAD was not successful, indicating a more complicated mechanism of partial oxidation besides the redox potential. However, utilization as hole-transport material was successful, giving a highest efficiency of 11.1% under AM 1.5G solar illumination.