Denatured M13 Bacteriophage‐Templated Perovskite Solar Cells Exhibiting High Efficiency

Abstract

The M13 bacteriophage, a nature-inspired environmentally friendly biomaterial, is used as a perovskite crystal growth template and a grain boundary passivator in perovskite solar cells. The amino groups and carboxyl groups of amino acids on the M13 bacteriophage surface function as Lewis bases, interacting with the perovskite materials. The M13 bacteriophage-added perovskite films show a larger grain size and reduced trap-sites compared with the reference perovskite films. In addition, the existence of the M13 bacteriophage induces light scattering effect, which enhances the light absorption particularly in the long-wavelength region around 825 nm. Both the passivation effect of the M13 bacteriophage coordinating to the perovskite defect sites and the light scattering effect intensify when the M13 virus-added perovskite precursor solution is heated at 90°C prior to the film formation. Heating the solution denatures the M13 bacteriophage by breaking their inter-and intra-molecular bondings. The denatured M13 bacteriophage-added perovskite solar cells exhibit an efficiency of 20.1% while the reference devices give an efficiency of 17.8%. The great improvement in efficiency comes from all of the three photovoltaic parameters, namely short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, and fill factor, which correspond to the perovskite grain size, trap-site passivation, and charge transport, respectively.

A Facile and Effective Ozone Exposure Method for Wettability and Energy-Level Tuning of Hole-Transporting Layers in Lead-Free Tin Perovskite Solar Cells

“…The SEM images of the PEA 0.15 FA 0.85 SnI 3 films cannot be shown in this work as rapid degradation of the films took place during the measurements. The full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the [110] XRD peak is smaller for Pb-based perovskite films fabricated on ozone-exposed PEDOT:PSS than for those fabricated on pristine PEDOT:PSS, which indicates a larger grain size according to the Debye–Scherrer equation (Figure D). − In addition, there was no significant change in the intensity ratio of the [110] peak to the [220] peak, which reveals that ozone-exposed PEDOT:PSS contributes little or nothing to the formation of [110]-oriented grains . The FWHM of the [100] peak of Pb-free Sn-based perovskite films decreased substantially for films fabricated on ozone-exposed PEDOT:PSS, and this value was reduced further by the same degree with an increase in the ozone exposure time for both Ge:EDA 0.01 FA 0.98 SnI 3 (Figure E) and PEA 0.15 FA 0.85 SnI 3 (Figure F).…”

Homogeneously Miscible Fullerene inducing Vertical Gradient in Perovskite Thin‐Film toward Highly Efficient Solar Cells

“…[14,15] Not only the grain boundaries but also the perovskite surface can be passivated by forming an overcoating layer next to the perovskite film. A variety of materials have been reported to function as additives and passivation layers, which ranges from polymers [15][16][17][18][19] and biomaterials [20][21][22] to nanocarbons, such as carbon nanotubes [12,13] and fullerene derivatives. [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Among the fullerene derivatives, phenyl-C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester (PC 61 BM) has shown promising prospects owing to its high electron affinity and appropriate bandgap, the latter of which matches that of the perovskite photoactive materials.…”

Utilization of Multifunctional Environment‐Friendly Organic Dopants Inspired from Nature for Carbon Nanotube‐Based Planar Heterojunction Silicon Solar Cells

“…[1][2][3] These materials are biodegradable, biocompatible, and most importantly, lower cost than synthetic materials. [4][5][6][7] Organic acids, which consist of hydrocarbons with carboxyl, sulfonic, or phosphoric groups, are biodegradable, easy to synthesize, and easily obtained from nature. Examples include acetic acid from vinegar, formic acid from ants, lactic acid from milk, and citric acid from fruits.…”