Tetrabutylammonium Hydroxide-Functionalized Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T<sub><i>x</i></sub> MXene for Significantly Improving the Photovoltaic Performance of Perovskite Solar Cells
An appropriate electron transport layer (ETL) or cathode buffer layer (CBL) is critical for high-performance perovskite solar cells (PVSCs). In this work, tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAOH)-functionalized Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T<sub><i>x</i></sub> MXene (TBAOH-Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T<sub><i>x</i></sub>) is developed to improve the photovoltaic performance of PVSCs. TBAOH-Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T<sub><i>x</i></sub> is synthesized by HF etching and then TBAOH intercalation, and TBAOH can effectively attach to the Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T<sub><i>x</i></sub> surface during the intercalation process. In hole transport material (HTM)-free carbon-based PVSCs with the structure of ITO/ETL/MAPbI<sub>3</sub>/carbon, the SnO<sub>2</sub> doped by TBAOH-Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T<sub><i>x</i></sub> (SnO<sub>2</sub>:TBAOH-Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T<sub><i>x</i></sub>) as ETL shows decreased WF and increased conductivity and improves the growth of the perovskite film with a larger grain and significantly reduced defects, which synergistically facilitate charge transport and extraction and reduce charge recombination. The HTM-free carbon-based PVSC with SnO<sub>2</sub>:TBAOH-Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T<sub><i>x</i></sub> ETL exhibits a significantly higher PCE of 14.93% with enhanced device stability compared to the control device with pristine SnO<sub>2</sub> ETL (11.95%) and also outperforms most of the HTM-free carbon-based PVSCs with MAPbI<sub>3</sub> perovskite reported so far. In traditional inverted PVSCs with the structure of ITO/PTAA/MAPbI<sub>3</sub>/PCBM/CBL/Ag, the TBAOH-Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T<sub><i>x</i></sub> is utilized as a CBL to significantly enhance device performance with a high PCE of 21.16%, which is obviously superior than that (16.26%) of the control device without CBL. The impressive results indicate that tetrabutylammonium hydroxide-functionalized Ti<sub>3</sub>C<sub>2</sub>T<sub><i>x</i></sub> MXene possesses great application potential in different functional layers for high-performance PVSCs.
Authors
- Lixian Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4684-683X)
- Xiaogang Xue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1611-7003)
- Dianhui Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2582-8731)
- Ruixiang Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-2819-4996)
- Wei Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7237-0615)
- Hongliang Peng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9459-6954)
- Yashuai Ye
- Ling Ding (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4129-4418)
- Ping Cai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8717-9941)
- Haiqing Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3521-2965)
- Jing Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7199-4784)
- Chengwen Huang
Institutions
- Guangdong University of Technology (CN)
- Guilin University of Electronic Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Published
- 2024-11-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.4c13540
- Citations
- 9
- Primary Topic
- Perovskite Materials and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.88
Funders
- Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- People's Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
- Specific Research Project of Guangxi for Research Bases and Talents