The beneficial effects of mixing spiro-OMeTAD with n-butyl-substituted copper phthalocyanine for perovskite solar cells

Perovskite solar cells have been constructed under ambient conditions by using 2,2',7,7'-Tetrakis-(N,N-di-4-methoxyphenylamino)-9,9'-spirobifluorene (spiro-OMeTAD) mixed with a small quantity of soluble tetra-n-butyl substituted copper phthalocyanine as hole transporting material. The introduction of the phthalocyanine derivative resulted in an impressive increase of cell efficiency, which changed from 10.4% in the absence to 15.4% in the presence of phthalocyanine. This effect is related to the creation of deep traps in the hole transporting phase which block back-travelling electrons as well as to the improvement of the structural quality of the spiro-OMeTAD film in the presence of phthalocyanine. Both functionalities decrease shunt paths within the hole transporting phase resulting in increasing the fill factor and the open-circuit voltage of the cell. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.