Hole Blocking Layer-Free Perovskite Solar Cells with over 15% Efficiency

The past five years have witnessed the significant breakthrough of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). High certificated power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 22.1% was achieved in a short time after the inorganic-organic perovskite was firstly used as the light absorber in the solar cells. It is believed that PSCs now become one of the most promising photovoltaic in the new-generation solar cells, which may rival silicon based solar cells. In this article, simplified planar perovskite solar cells without a hole-blocking layer were fabricated by a two-step spin-coating method, and the highest PCE of 15.1% was achieved with an average PCE of 13.6%. Moreover, it is found that the hysteresis effect is reduced in this kind of devices. The research on improved performance for the PSCs with simplified device architecture is very important both for understanding the working mechanism of cells, and for fabricating low-cost and high-performance PSCs to approach commercial applications. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.CII-HK/PolyU Innovation Fund; Hong Kong Scholars ProgramCPCI-S(ISTP)188-19310