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Alkhudhari OM, Wang R, Jia Z, Hodson NW, Alruwaili A, Altujjar A, Picheo E, Saunders BR. Structurally colored semitransparent perovskite solar cells using one-step deposition of self-ordering microgel particles. RSC Adv 2024; 14:6190-6198. [PMID: 38375014 PMCID: PMC10875278 DOI: 10.1039/d4ra00324a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2024] [Accepted: 02/08/2024] [Indexed: 02/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Semitransparent perovskite solar cells (STPSCs) have excellent potential for widespread application as building integrated photovoltaics. Widespread application of STPSCs could result in decreased CO2 footprints for buildings. Unfortunately, STPSCs tend to have poor aesthetic qualities (being usually red-brown in color) and low stability. Building on our previous work, here we use new poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) microgels (PNP MGs) to provide highly ordered non-close packed arrays within perovskite films that reflect some of the incident light to provide structural color to STPSCs. (MGs are swellable crosslinked polymer colloid particles.) We introduce PNP MGs into two different perovskites and achieve a wide gamut of reflected color and iridescence from the perovskite films. Devices containing the MGs have average visible transparency (AVT) values of greater than 25%. The best PCE for a MG-containing STPSC is 10.60% compared to 9.14% for the MG-free control. The MGs not only introduce structural color to the STPSCs but increase the PCE and stability. Equations are provided that enable the reflected color to be predicted from the formulation used to deposit the films. Our work shows that the self-ordering tendency of PNP MGs gives a viable new method for introducing structural color into STPSCs. Because our one-step method for introducing structural color into STPSCs is general, does not introduce any additional processing steps and is scalable whilst also improving device stability, this study may bring deployment of STPSCs closer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Osama M Alkhudhari
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester Engineering Building A Manchester M1 7HL UK
| | - Ran Wang
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester Engineering Building A Manchester M1 7HL UK
| | - Zhenyu Jia
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester Engineering Building A Manchester M1 7HL UK
| | - Nigel W Hodson
- BioAFM Facility, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester Stopford Building, Oxford Road Manchester M13 9PT UK
| | - Amal Alruwaili
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester Engineering Building A Manchester M1 7HL UK
| | - Amal Altujjar
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester Engineering Building A Manchester M1 7HL UK
- Basic Science Department, Deanship of Preparatory Year and Supporting Studies, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University Dammam 34221 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
| | - Eugenio Picheo
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester Engineering Building A Manchester M1 7HL UK
| | - Brian R Saunders
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester Engineering Building A Manchester M1 7HL UK
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Lian Q, Mokhtar MZ, Lu D, Zhu M, Jacobs J, Foster AB, Thomas AG, Spencer BF, Wu S, Liu C, Hodson NW, Smith B, Alkaltham A, Alkhudhari OM, Watson T, Saunders BR. Using Soft Polymer Template Engineering of Mesoporous TiO 2 Scaffolds to Increase Perovskite Grain Size and Solar Cell Efficiency. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2020; 12:18578-18589. [PMID: 32237709 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c02248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The mesoporous (meso)-TiO2 layer is a key component of high-efficiency perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Herein, pore size controllable meso-TiO2 layers are prepared using spin coating of commercial TiO2 nanoparticle (NP) paste with added soft polymer templates (SPT) followed by removal of the SPT at 500 °C. The SPTs consist of swollen crosslinked polymer colloids (microgels, MGs) or a commercial linear polymer (denoted as LIN). The MGs and LIN were comprised of the same polymer, which was poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm). Large (L-MG) and small (S-MG) MG SPTs were employed to study the effect of the template size. The SPT approach enabled pore size engineering in one deposition step. The SPT/TiO2 nanoparticle films had pore sizes > 100 nm, whereas the average pore size was 37 nm for the control meso-TiO2 scaffold. The largest pore sizes were obtained using L-MG. SPT engineering increased the perovskite grain size in the same order as the SPT sizes: LIN < S-MG < L-MG and these grain sizes were larger than those obtained using the control. The power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of the SPT/TiO2 devices were ∼20% higher than that for the control meso-TiO2 device and the PCE of the champion S-MG device was 18.8%. The PCE improvement is due to the increased grain size and more effective light harvesting of the SPT devices. The increased grain size was also responsible for the improved stability of the SPT/TiO2 devices. The SPT method used here is simple, scalable, and versatile and should also apply to other PSCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Lian
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, United Kingdom
| | - Muhamad Z Mokhtar
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, United Kingdom
| | - Dongdong Lu
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, United Kingdom
| | - Mingning Zhu
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, United Kingdom
| | - Janet Jacobs
- Photon Science Institute, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew B Foster
- Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew G Thomas
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, United Kingdom
- Photon Science Institute, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
- The Henry Royce Institute, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
| | - Ben F Spencer
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, United Kingdom
- The Henry Royce Institute, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom
| | - Shanglin Wu
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, United Kingdom
| | - Chen Liu
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, United Kingdom
| | - Nigel W Hodson
- BioAFM Facility, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, Stopford Building, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, United Kingdom
| | - Benjamin Smith
- SPECIFIC, College of Engineering, Swansea University Bay Campus, Swansea SA1 8EN, United Kingdom
| | - Abdulaziz Alkaltham
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, United Kingdom
| | - Osama M Alkhudhari
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, United Kingdom
| | - Trystan Watson
- SPECIFIC, College of Engineering, Swansea University Bay Campus, Swansea SA1 8EN, United Kingdom
| | - Brian R Saunders
- Department of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester M1 3BB, United Kingdom
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