2 research outputs found
Enhancing Thermal Stability and Lifetime of Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells via Molecular Engineering of the Hole-Transporting Material Spiro-OMeTAD
Thermal
stability of hybrid solar cells containing spiro-OMeTAD
as hole-transporting layer is investigated. It is demonstrated that
fully symmetrical spiro-OMeTAD is prone to crystallization, and growth
of large crystalline domains in the hole-transporting layer is one
of the causes of solar cell degradation at elevated temperatures,
as crystallization of the material inside the pores or on the interface
affects the contact between the absorber and the hole transport. Suppression
of the crystal growth in the hole-transporting layer is demonstrated
to be a viable tactic to achieve a significant increase in the solar
cell resistance to thermal stress and improve the overall lifetime
of the device. Findings described in this publication could be applicable
to hybrid solar cell research as a number of well-performing architectures
rely heavily upon doped spiro-OMeTAD as hole-transporting material