Green Anisole Solvent-Based Synthesis and Deposition of Phthalocyanine Dopant-Free Hole-Transport Materials for Perovskite Solar Cells

Suresh K. Podapangi, Laura Mancini, Jie Xu, Sathy Harshavardhan Reddy, Aldo Di Carlo, Thomas M. Brown and Gloria Zanotti ()
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Suresh K. Podapangi: C.H.O.S.E. (Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy), Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome-Tor Vergata, via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Laura Mancini: Istituto di Struttura della Materia—CNR (ISM-CNR), Area della Ricerca Roma 1, Via Salaria km 29.300, 00015 Monterotondo, Italy
Jie Xu: C.H.O.S.E. (Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy), Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome-Tor Vergata, via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Sathy Harshavardhan Reddy: C.H.O.S.E. (Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy), Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome-Tor Vergata, via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Aldo Di Carlo: C.H.O.S.E. (Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy), Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome-Tor Vergata, via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Thomas M. Brown: C.H.O.S.E. (Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy), Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome-Tor Vergata, via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Gloria Zanotti: Istituto di Struttura della Materia—CNR (ISM-CNR), Area della Ricerca Roma 1, Via Salaria km 29.300, 00015 Monterotondo, Italy

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: Perovskite Solar Cells (PSCs) have attracted attention due to their low cost, easy solution processability, high efficiency, and scalability. However, the benchmark expensive hole transport material (HTM) 2,2′,7,7′-tetrakis[N, N-di(4-methoxyphenyl)amino]-9,9′-spirobifluorene (Spiro-MeOTAD), which is traditionally solution-processed with toxic solvents such as chlorobenzene (CB), dichlorobenzene (DCB), or toluene, is a bottleneck. To address this issue, this work investigates the implementation of Zn(II), Cu(II), or Co(II) tetra- tert -butylphthalocyanines (TBU4-Cu, TBU4-Zn, TBU4-Co), established macrocyclic derivatives whose synthesis and processing inside the devices have been redesigned to be more environmentally sustainable and cost-effective by substituting conventional solvents with greener alternatives such as anisole, propane-1,2-diol, and their mixture, as dopant-free HTMs in planar n-i-p PSCs. The anisole-processed HTMs provided power conversion efficiencies (PCE) up to 12.27% for TBU4-Cu and 11.73% for TBU4-Zn, with better photovoltaic parameters than the corresponding cells made with chlorobenzene for which the best results obtained were, respectively, 12.22% and 10.81%.

Keywords: hybrid perovskites; anisole; propylene glycol; green synthesis; porphyrinoids (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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