A review of the perovskite solar cells

Abstract

The efficiency of solar cells based on organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite materials has a rapid growth from 3.8% in 2009 to 19.3%. The perovskite material (CH3NH3PbX3) exhibits advantages of high absorbing coefficient, low cost, and easily synthesised, which achieved extremely rapid development in recent years and gains great concern from the academic circle. As we know, perovskite materials not only serve as light absorption layer, but also can be used as either electron or hole transport layer. Consequently, various structures are designed based on the function of the perovskite, such as the solid-state mesoscopic heterojunction, meso-superstructured planar-heterojunction, HTM-free and the organic structured layers. Besides, it is also attractive for its versatility in fabrication techniques: one-step precursor solution deposition, two-step sequential deposition, dual-source vapor deposition, and vapor-assisted solution processing etc. This review mainly introduces the development and mechanism of the perovskite solar cells performance and the fabrication methods of peroskite films, briefly describes the specific function and improvement of each layer, and finally discusses the challenges we are facing and the development prospects, in order to have a further understanding of perovskite solar cells and lay a solid foundation for the preparation of new structures of the perovskite solar cells.