Robin Nicholas

Abstract:

Perovskite-based photovoltaics have, in recent years, become poised to revolutionise the solar industry. While there have been many approaches taken to the deposition of this material, one-step spin-coating remains the simplest and most widely used method in research laboratories. Although spin-coating is not recognised as the ideal manufacturing methodology, it represents a starting point from which more scalable deposition methods, such as slot-dye coating or ink-jet printing can be developed. Here, we introduce a new, low-boiling point, low viscosity solvent system that enables rapid, room temperature crystallisation of methylammonium lead triiodide perovskite films, without the use of strongly coordinating aprotic solvents. Through the use of this solvent, we produce dense, pinhole free films with uniform coverage, high specularity, and enhanced optoelectronic properties. We fabricate devices and achieve stabilised power conversion efficiencies of over 18% for films which have been annealed at 100 °C, and over 17% for films which have been dried under vacuum and have undergone no thermal processing. This deposition technique allows uniform coating on substrate areas of up to 125 cm2, showing tremendous promise for the fabrication of large area, high efficiency, solution processed devices, and represents a critical step towards industrial upscaling and large area printing of perovskite solar cells.

Abstract:

The majority of hole‐transporting layers used in n‐i‐p perovskite solar cells contain 4‐tert butylpyridine (tBP). High power‐conversion efficiencies and, in particular, good steady‐state performance appears to be contingent on the inclusion of this additive. On the quest to improve the steady state efficiencies of the carbon nanotube‐based hole‐transporter system, this study has found that the presence of tBP results in an extraordinary improvement in the performance of these devices. By deconstructing a prototypical device and investigating the effect of tBP on each individual layer, the results of this study indicate that this performance enhancement must be due to a direct chemical interaction between tBP and the perovskite material. This study proposes that tBP serves to p‐dope the perovskite layer and investigates this theory with poling and work function measurements.

Abstract:

The power-conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells has soared up to 22.1% earlier this year. Within merely five years, the perovskite solar cell can now compete on efficiency with inorganic thin-film technologies, making it the most promising of the new, emerging photovoltaic solar cell technologies. The next grand challenge is now the aspect of stability. The hydrophilicity and volatility of the organic methylammonium makes the work-horse material methylammonium lead iodide vulnerable to degradation through humidity and heat. Additionally, ultraviolet radiation and oxygen constitute stressors which can deteriorate the device performance. There are two fundamental strategies to increasing the device stability: developing protective layers around the vulnerable perovskite absorber and developing a more resilient perovskite absorber. The most important reports in literature are summarized and analyzed here, letting us conclude that any long-term stability, on par with that of inorganic thin-film technologies, is only possible with a more resilient perovskite incorporated in a highly protective device design.

Abstract:

Epitaxial graphene has proven itself to be the best candidate for quantum electrical resistance standards due to its wide quantum Hall plateaus with exceptionally high breakdown currents. However one key underlying mechanism, a magnetic field dependent charge transfer process, is yet to be fully understood. Here we report measurements of the quantum Hall effect in epitaxial graphene showing the widest quantum Hall plateau observed to date extending over 50 T, attributed to an almost linear increase in carrier density with magnetic field. This behaviour is strong evidence for field dependent charge transfer from charge reservoirs with exceptionally high densities of states in close proximity to the graphene. Using a realistic framework of broadened Landau levels we model the densities of donor states and predict the field dependence of charge transfer in excellent agreement with experimental results, thus providing a guide towards engineering epitaxial graphene for applications such as quantum metrology