Efficiency enhancement of perovskite solar cells through fast electron extraction: the role of graphene quantum dots

J Am Chem Soc. 2014 Mar 12;136(10):3760-3. doi: 10.1021/ja4132246. Epub 2014 Feb 25.

Abstract

We report on a significant power conversion efficiency improvement of perovskite solar cells from 8.81% to 10.15% due to insertion of an ultrathin graphene quantum dots (GQDs) layer between perovskite and TiO2. A strong quenching of perovskite photoluminescence was observed at ∼760 nm upon the addition of the GQDs, which is pronouncedly correlated with the increase of the IPCE and the APCE of the respective cells. From the transient absorption measurements, the improved cell efficiency can be attributed to the much faster electron extraction with the presence of GQDs (90-106 ps) than without their presence (260-307 ps). This work highlights that GQDs can act as a superfast electron tunnel for optoelectronic devices.