Thin single crystal perovskite solar cells to harvest below-bandgap light absorption

The efficiency of perovskite solar cells has surged in the past few years, while the bandgaps of current perovskite materials for record efficiencies are much larger than the optimal value, which makes the efficiency far lower than the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit. Here we show that utilizing the below-bandgap absorption of perovskite single crystals can narrow down their effective optical bandgap without changing the composition. Thin methylammonium lead triiodide single crystals with tuned thickness of tens of micrometers are directly grown on hole-transport-layer covered substrates by a hydrophobic interface confined lateral crystal growth method. The spectral response of the methylammonium lead…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 1252623, ECCS-1252623
• DT
  Defense Threat Reduction Agency
• OO
  Office of Naval Research

  Awards: N00014-17-1, N00014-15-1-2713, N00014, N00014-17-1-2163
• DO
  Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems

  Award: ECCS-1252623