Perovskite Solar Cells: A Porous Graphitic Carbon based Hole Transporter/Counter Electrode Material Extracted from an Invasive Plant Species Eichhornia Crassipes

Abstract

perovskite solar cells (pScs) composed of organic polymer-based hole-transporting materials (HtMs) are considered to be an important strategy in improving the device performance, to compete with conventional solar cells. Yet the use of such expensive and unstable HTMs, together with hygroscopic perovskite structure remains a concern -an arguable aspect for the prospect of onsite photovoltaic (PV) application. Herein, we have demonstrated the sustainable fabrication of efficient and air-stable PSCs composed of an invasive plant (Eichhornia crassipes) extracted porous graphitic carbon (ec-Gc) which plays a dual role as HTM/counter electrode. The changes in annealing temperature (~450 °C, ~850 °C and ~1000 °C) while extracting the EC-GC, made a significant impact on the degree of graphitization -a remarkable criterion in determining the device performance. Hence, the fabricated champion device-1 c : Glass/fto/c-tio 2 /mp-tio 2 /cH 3 nH 3 pbi 3−x cl x /EC-GC10@CH 3 nH 3 pbi 3−x cl x /EC-GC10) exhibited a PCE of 8.52%. Surprisingly, the introduced EC-GC10 encapsulated perovskite interfacial layer at the perovskite/HtM interface helps in overcoming the moisture degradation of the hygroscopic perovskite layer in which the same champion device-1 c evinced better air stability retaining its efficiency ~94.40% for 1000 hours. We believe that this present work on invasive plant extracted carbon playing a dual role, together as an interfacial layer may pave the way towards a reliable perovskite photovoltaic device at low-cost.Lower cost, shorter payback time and an unprecedented rise in power conversion efficiency (PCE) escalating from 3.8% in 2009 to 24.2% (2019) have turned the attention of researchers and industrial community towards perovskite solar cells (PSCs) within a decade 1-5 . Outstanding photovoltaic properties such as high charge carrier mobility, long electron-hole diffusion length, high absorption coefficient with tuneable bandgap property, low-exciton binding energy, and easy solution preparation techniques make it to compete with traditional commercial silicon solar cells 6,7 . In general, a typical PSC is composed of an electron transport layer (ETL), an active absorbing layer, a HTL, and a counter electrode. Nevertheless, the use of expensive and unstable conducting polymers based hole transporting materials (HTMs) such as (2,2′,7,7′-tetrakis(N,N-di-p-methoxyphenylamine)-9

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Analysis of Hole Transporting Material Free Mesoporous and Planar Perovskite Solar Cells

“…Hole collecting layers or counter electrodes (CEs) play a crucial role in determining the performance of PSCs. In HTM-free PSCs, it is required for the CE to play the role of HTM as well [72], which in turn affects the series resistance and V oc of the device [35]. Carbon is most commonly employed as the CE in HTM-free PSCs, and an optimized thickness of mesoporous carbon CE is essential for high-performance devices (specifically, in the case of monolithic PSCs) [73].…”

Current State of Porous Carbon for Wastewater Treatment

“…In 2019, Zhang et al [52] showed that the use of graphitized mesoporous carbon as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries improved speed performance and had a good cycling stability with a reversible capacity of 248.3 mA h g −1 at 1 C after 100 cycles. In the same context, porous graphitic carbon was synthesized from Eichhornia crassipes plants collected from the Coimbatore region, Tamilnadu-India, and has been used for the sustainable fabrication of hole-transporting materials electrode in perovskite solar cells [53]. Graphene is related to graphite, and it was isolated experimentally for the first time, in 2004, from graphite [54][55][56][57].…”

“…It is also used in gas sensors such as NO 2 , CO, H 2 S, H 2 , NO, NH 3 , and CO 2 [76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85], or even as a biosensor for the detection of dopamine [86,87], β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide [88], paracetamol [87,89], Kojic acid [90], uric acid [86,87], vanillin [91], and caffeic acid [92]. Graphene is also used as a drug carrier [93][94][95][96][97] and as a charge conductor in solar cells as well as a light collector including cells and photodetectors [53,[60][61][62][98][99][100]. He et al [101] prepared a three-dimensional graphene-CNTs@ Se aerogel, usingCNTs/selenium that is sandwiched between graphene nanosheets via an environmentally friendly solvothermal method.…”

Graphite-type activated carbon from coconut shell: a natural source for eco-friendly non-volatile storage devices

“…Biomass as an abundant material is widely used for numerous applications, [1][2][3][4][5] due to its widespread availability, sustainability, unique structures, and low-cost. In particular, the crystalline nature of the carbonaceous materials obtained from biomass makes them suitable for rapid ion-transportation during energy storage processes in electrochemical supercapacitors.…”