Development of nanocomposites based on MXenes and intrinsically conducting polymers for HTL of perovskite solar cells

Abstract

In view of the increasing energy demand and the risks related to the soaring pollutant emissions to the atmosphere, the search of new materials and processes for clean and renewable power generation have been increasingly on demand. Perovskite Solar Cells (PSCs) have attracted great attention due to their continuous improvement of power conversion efficiency, low cost and easy processability. However, these devices still show drawbacks associated to long-term stability and large-scale processability which hinder their presence in the market. Part of these limitations can be explained by the low stability of their Hole Transport Layer (HTL). The Spiro-OMeTAD, currently the most used material for HTL, suffers most from degradation due to its interaction with the adjacent layers, photo-oxidation, besides its high cost. The novel class of 2-D materials, MXenes, shows promising properties such as high charge mobility, high transparency, tunable electronic properties and high stability. Likewise, Intrinsically Conducting Polymers (ICP) exhibit characteristic high hole mobility, easy processability and relative low cost. Thereby, in this project, nanocomposites based on MXenes and ICP will be synthesized and studied aiming to tune HTL properties and processability for printed solar cells fabrication. By characterizing these nanocomposites, the mechanisms and synergic properties resulted from the interaction between these materials and from those to the adjacent layers will be studied. Finally, the effect of these nanocomposite properties on the performance, stability and processability of PSCs will be evaluated. (AU)