The versatility of polymers in perovskite solar cells

Abstract

The development of sustainable, cost-effective, and un-depleted energy resources is a demanding challenge. Harvesting an abundant source of energy, such as solar light, is one of the promising ways, to convert sunlight through a semiconductor directly into electricity. Varieties of solar cells based on silicon, thin-film, and emerging solar cells are being developed to address these challenges, and some of them have reached market maturity. Emerging solar cells also provide the possibility of manufacturing flexible devices with high efficiency, low material use, and subsequently low-module cost. Among them, perovskite solar cells have emerged as being efficient with potential for a commercial endeavor. Nonetheless, there is a window of opportunity that exists to improve the lifetime, photovoltaic (PV) performances and to further reduce the cost before its commercial viability. Employing polymers is one of the promising strategies to increase the reliability and upgrade the PV performances, such as improving fill factor (FF), open-circuit voltage (V_oc), short-circuit current density (J_sc), and thus power conversion efficiency. Here, we present the recent progress in the use of polymeric materials as charge transporting (electron and hole-selective) layers, interfacial layers, and additives, to improve stability and photovoltaic properties.