Novel adamantane-based hole transport materials for perovskite solar cells: a computational approach

Adamantane derivatives have been subjected to quantum mechanical calculations to determine their capabilities as potential hole transport materials (HTMs) in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Adamantane has been modified in two ways: multiple arm substitution and outermost substituent variation. It has been shown that tetra-substitution of adamantane gave the best characteristics as a HTM. Further modification showed tetra-ethyl substituted adamantane (ad-EtTPA) has the lowest HOMO, a small hole reorganization energy (λh), absorption in the UV region, and good stability. These appropriate properties mean that ad-EtTPA could be a promising HTM in PSCs. In addition, the relationship between λh and the electrostatic potential (ESP) maps of the cationic geometry has been studied. Three outcomes were drawn from the investigation: (1) the high positive potential in the ESP map is the region where more geometric distortions are occurring in going from the neutral to the cationic state, (2) large geometric distortions in this region lead to high λh, and (3) for tetra-substituted adamantane derivatives, delocalization of the positive potential leads to lower λh. The results showed that ESP maps can give insight into the molecular engineering of HTMs.

Tetracyanobutadiene (TCBD) functionalized benzothiadiazole derivatives: effect of donor strength on the [2+2] cycloaddition–retroelectrocyclization reaction

A series of unsymmetrical and symmetrical mono/di 1,1,4,4-tetracyanobutadiene (TCBD) substituted benzothiadiazoles (BTDs) 2a–2g was synthesized by [2+2] cycloaddition–retroelectrocyclization reaction.

Facilely Synthesized spiro[fluorene-9,9'-phenanthren-10'-one] in Donor-Acceptor-Donor Hole-Transporting Materials for Perovskite Solar Cells

We have demonstrated two novel donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) hole-transport material (HTM) with spiro[fluorene-9,9'-phenanthren-10'-one] as the core structure, which can be synthesized through a low-cost process in high yield. Compared to the incorporation of the conventional HTM of commonly used 2,2',7,7'-tetrakis[N,N-di(4-methoxyphenyl)amino]-9,9'-spirobifluorene (Spiro-OMeTAD), the synthesis process is greatly simplified for the presented D-A-D materials, including a minimum number of purification processes. This results in an increased production yield (>55 %) and suppressed production cost (<30 $ g^-1 ), in addition to high power conversion efficiency (PCE) in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The PCE of a PSC using our D-A-D HTM reaches 16.06 %, similar to that of Spiro-OMeTAD (16.08 %), which is attributed to comparable hole mobility and charge-transfer efficiency. D-A-D HTMs also provide better moisture resistivity to prolong the lifetime of PSCs under ambient conditions relative to their Spiro-OMeTAD counterparts. The proposed new type of D-A-D HTM has shown promising performance as an alternative HTM for PSCs and can be synthesized with high production throughput.

Low cost and stable quinoxaline-based hole-transporting materials with a D-A-D molecular configuration for efficient perovskite solar cells

The use of expensive hole transporting materials (HTMs), such as spiro-OMeTAD, in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is one of the critical bottlenecks to hinder their large-scale applications. Some low-cost alternatives have been developed by combining conjugated electron-rich cores with arylamine end-caps, usually in a donor-π spacer-donor (D-π-D) molecular configuration. However, incorporation of electron-rich cores can lead to undesirable up-shift in the HOMO energy level and low stability, and few of these new HTMs can outperform spiro-OMeTAD in terms of device efficiency. Given that electron-deficient units have shown many advantages in developing efficient and stable photovoltaic dyes and polymers, we herein present a couple of novel molecular quinoxaline-based HTMs (TQ1 and TQ2) with a donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) configuration, especially for rationally modulating the HOMO level, improving the stability and decreasing the cost. The TQ2-based PSCs exhibit a maximum efficiency of 19.62% (working area of 0.09 cm2), unprecedentedly outperforming that of spiro-OMeTAD (18.54%) under the same conditions. In comparison, TQ1 based devices only showed moderate efficiencies (14.27%). The differences in hole extraction and transportation between TQ1 and TQ2 are explored by photoluminescence quenching, mobility and conductivity tests, and single crystal analysis. The scaling-up of the TQ2 based device to 1.02 cm2 achieves a promising efficiency of 18.50%, indicative of high film uniformity and processing scalability. The significant cost advantage and excellent photovoltaic performance strongly indicate that the D-A-D featured TQ2 has great potential for future practical applications.

Advances in the Synthesis of Small Molecules as Hole Transport Materials for Lead Halide Perovskite Solar Cells

Over hundreds of new organic semiconductor molecules have been synthesized as hole transport materials (HTMs) for perovskite solar cells. However, to date, the well-known N², N², N^2', N^2', N⁷, N⁷, N^7', octakis-(4-methoxyphenyl)-9,9-spirobi-[9,9'-spirobi[9 H-fluorene]-2,2',7,7'-tetramine (spiro-OMeTAD) is still the best choice for the best perovskite device performance. Nevertheless, there is a consensus that spiro-OMeTAD by itself is not stable enough for long-term stable devices, and its market price makes its use in large-scale production costly. Novel synthetic routes for new HTMs have to be sought that can be carried out in fewer synthetic steps and can be easily scaled up for commercial purposes. On the one hand, synthetic chemists have taken, as a first approach, the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels of the spiro-OMeTAD molecule as a reference to synthesize molecules with similar energy levels, although these HOMO and LUMO energy levels often have been measured indirectly in solution using cyclic voltammetry. On the other hand, the "spiro" chemical core has also been studied as a structural motif for novel HTMs. However, only a few molecules incorporated as HTMs in complete functional perovskite solar cells have been capable of matching the performance of the best-performing perovskite solar cells made using spiro-OMeTAD. In this Account, we describe the advances in the synthesis of HTMs that have been tested in perovskite solar cells. The comparison of solar cell efficiencies is of course very challenging because the solar cell preparation conditions may differ from laboratory to laboratory. To extract valuable information about the HTM molecular structure-device function relationship, we describe those examples that always have used spiro-OMeTAD as a control device and have always used identical experimental conditions (e.g., the use of the same chemical dopant for the HTM or the lack of it). The pioneering work was focused on well-understood organic semiconductor moieties such as arylamine, carbazole, and thiophene. Those chemical structures have been largely employed and studied as HTMs, for instance, in organic light-emitting devices. Interestingly, most research groups have reported the hole mobility values for their novel HTMs. However, only a few examples have been found that have measured the HOMO and LUMO energy levels using advanced spectroscopic techniques to determine these reference energy values directly. Moreover, it has been shown that those molecules, upon interacting with the perovskite layer, often have different HOMO and LUMO energies than the values estimated indirectly using solution-based electrochemical methods. Last but not least, porphyrins and phthalocyanines have also been synthesized as potential HTMs for perovskite solar cells. Their optical and physical properties, such as high absorption and good energy transfer capabilities, open new possibilities for HTMs in perovskite solar cells.

Improved performance and stability of perovskite solar cells with bilayer electron-transporting layers

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (NPs) are very promising in replacing the phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) as electron-transporting materials due to the high carrier mobilities, superior stability, low cost and solution processability at low temperatures. The perovskite/ZnO NPs heterojunction has also demonstrated much better stability than perovskite/PC61BM, however it shows lower power conversion efficiency (PCE) compared to the state-of-art devices based on perovskite/PCBM heterojunction. Here, we demonstrated that the insufficient charge transfer from methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) to ZnO NPs and significant interface trap-states lead to the poor performance and severe hysteresis of PSC with MAPbI3/ZnO NPs heterojunction. When PC61BM/ZnO NPs bilayer electron transporting layers (ETLs) were used with a device structure of ITO/poly(bis(4-phenyl)(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)amine) (PTAA)/MAPbI3/PC61BM/ZnO NPs/Al, which can combine the advantages of efficient charge transfer from MAPbI3 to PC61BM and excellent blocking ability of ZnO NPs against oxygen, water and electrodes, highly efficient PSCs with PCE as high as 17.2% can be achieved with decent stability.

Molecular Engineering of Tetraphenylbenzidine-Based Hole Transport Material for Perovskite Solar Cell

Experimental and theoretical HOMO energy correlation of tetraphenylbenzidine (TPB)-based hole transport materials (HTMs) was successfully achieved through adiabatic ground-state oxidation potential calculation using LC-ωPBE. Similarly, trends in the computed excitation energies and hole reorganization energies of the HTMs are in agreement with the experimental band gaps and hole mobilities, respectively. Using these established correlations, the calculated properties of novel TPB-based HTMs were analyzed, and among the derivatives, TPB with attached fluorene (Fl) has less absorption in the visible region, a lower hole reorganization energy, and a deeper HOMO level compared to the reference. These properties signify that Fl could be a promising HTM in perovskite solar cells because this material will not compete with the perovskite absorption, will be efficient for hole transport due to its better hole mobility, and will eventually enhance the open-circuit voltage of the device. All of these factors could improve the efficiency of the perovskite solar cell.

Strategy to Boost the Efficiency of Mixed-Ion Perovskite Solar Cells: Changing Geometry of the Hole Transporting Material

The hole transporting material (HTM) is an essential component in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) for efficient extraction and collection of the photoinduced charges. Triphenylamine- and carbazole-based derivatives have extensively been explored as alternative and economical HTMs for PSCs. However, the improvement of their power conversion efficiency (PCE), as well as further investigation of the relationship between the chemical structure of the HTMs and the photovoltaic performance, is imperatively needed. In this respect, a simple carbazole-based HTM X25 was designed on the basis of a reference HTM, triphenylamine-based X2, by simply linking two neighboring phenyl groups in a triphenylamine unit through a carbon-carbon single bond. It was found that a lowered highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level was obtained for X25 compared to that of X2. Besides, the carbazole moiety in X25 improved the molecular planarity as well as conductivity property in comparison with the triphenylamine unit in X2. Utilizing the HTM X25 in a solar cell with mixed-ion perovskite [HC(NH2)2]0.85(CH3NH3)0.15Pb(I0.85Br0.15)3, a highest reported PCE of 17.4% at 1 sun (18.9% under 0.46 sun) for carbazole-based HTM in PSCs was achieved, in comparison of a PCE of 14.7% for triphenylamine-based HTM X2. From the steady-state photoluminescence and transient photocurrent/photovoltage measurements, we conclude that (1) the lowered HOMO level for X25 compared to X2 favored a higher open-circuit voltage (Voc) in PSCs; (2) a more uniform formation of X25 capping layer than X2 on the surface of perovskite resulted in more efficient hole transport and charge extraction in the devices. In addition, the long-term stability of PSCs with X25 is significantly enhanced compared to X2 due to its good uniformity of HTM layer and thus complete coverage on the perovskite. The results provide important information to further develop simple and efficient small molecular HTMs applied in solar cells.

Exploring the electrochemical properties of hole transport materials with spiro-cores for efficient perovskite solar cells from first-principles

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with organic small molecules as hole transport materials (HTMs) have attracted considerable attention due to their power conversion efficiencies as high as 20%. In the present work, three new spiro-type hole transport materials with spiro-cores, i.e. Spiro-F1, Spiro-F2 and Spiro-F3, are investigated by using density functional theory combined with the Marcus theory and Einstein relation. Based on the calculated and experimental highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) levels of 30 reference molecules, an empirical equation, which can predict the HOMO levels of hole transport materials accurately, is proposed. Moreover, a simplified method, in which the hole transport pathways are simplified to be one-dimensional, is presented and adopted to qualitatively compare the molecular hole mobilities. The calculated results show that the perovskite solar cells with the new hole transport materials can have higher open-circuit voltages due to the lower HOMO levels of Spiro-F1 (-5.31 eV), Spiro-F2 (-5.42 eV) and Spiro-F3 (-5.10 eV) compared with that of Spiro-OMeTAD (-5.09 eV). Furthermore, the hole mobilities of Spiro-F1 (1.75 × 10(-2) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1)) and Spiro-F3 (7.59 × 10(-3) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1)) are 3.1 and 1.4 times that of Spiro-OMeTAD (5.65 × 10(-3) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1)) respectively, due to small reorganization energies and large transfer integrals. Interestingly, the stability properties of Spiro-F1 and Spiro-F2 are shown to be comparable to that of Spiro-OMeTAD, and the dimers of Spiro-F2 and Spiro-F3 possess better stability than that of Spiro-OMeTAD. Taking into consideration the appropriate HOMO level, improved hole mobility and enhanced stability, Spiro-F1 and Spiro-F3 may become the most promising alternatives to Spiro-OMeTAD. The present work offers a new design strategy and reliable calculation methods towards the development of excellent organic small molecules as HTMs for highly efficient and stable PSCs.

How to regulate energy levels and hole mobility of spiro-type hole transport materials in perovskite solar cells

meta-Substitution is more beneficial to reduce HOMO levels compared with ortho- and para-substitution, while the hole mobility can be improved by ortho-substitution.