title: Vertical TiO2 Nanorods as a Medium for Stable and High-Efficiency Perovskite Solar Modules.
abstract: Perovskite solar cells employing CH3NH3PbI3-xClx active layers show power conversion efficiency (PCE) as high as 20% in single cells and 13% in large area modules. However, their operational stability has often been limited due to degradation of the CH3NH3PbI3-xClx active layer. Here, we report a perovskite solar module (PSM, best and av. PCE 10.5 and 8.1%), employing solution-grown TiO2 nanorods (NRs) as the electron transport layer, which showed an increase in performance (∼5%) even after shelf-life investigation for 2500 h. A crucial issue on the module fabrication was the patterning of the TiO2 NRs, which was solved by interfacial engineering during the growth process and using an optimized laser pulse for patterning. A shelf-life comparison with PSMs built on TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs, best and av. PCE 7.9 and 5.5%) of similar thickness and on a compact TiO2 layer (CL, best and av. PCE 5.8 and 4.9%) shows, in contrast to that observed for NR PSMs, that PCE in NPs and CL PSMs dropped by ∼50 and ∼90%, respectively. This is due to the fact that the CH3NH3PbI3-xClx active layer shows superior phase stability when incorporated in devices with TiO2 NR scaffolds.
authors.affiliation: Nanostructured Renewable Energy Materials Laboratory, Faculty of Industrial Sciences and Technology (FIST), Universiti Malaysia Pahang , 26300 Kuantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Azhar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fakharuddin
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Di Giacomo
authors.forename: Alessandro L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Palma
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Matteocci
authors.affiliation: Nanostructured Renewable Energy Materials Laboratory, Faculty of Industrial Sciences and Technology (FIST), Universiti Malaysia Pahang , 26300 Kuantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Irfan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Razza
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: D'Epifanio
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Licoccia
authors.affiliation: Nanostructured Renewable Energy Materials Laboratory, Faculty of Industrial Sciences and Technology (FIST), Universiti Malaysia Pahang , 26300 Kuantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Jamil
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Carlo
authors.forename: Thomas M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Nanostructured Renewable Energy Materials Laboratory, Faculty of Industrial Sciences and Technology (FIST), Universiti Malaysia Pahang , 26300 Kuantan, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Rajan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jose
keywords: energy conversion; nanorod solar cells; photovoltaic; stable solar module