A Review on Contemporary Hole
Transport Materials for Perovskite Solar
Cells
Saikumar Nair and Jignasa V. Gohel
Abstract The present review article is focussed on different types of holetransporting materials (HTMs) under research over the past few years in the
perovskite-based solar cell (PSC) in achieving the goal of higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) and operational stability. There has been a growth spurt of
efficiency from 3.8 to 22.1% in the last decade which has attracted researchers and
the renewable industry. HTMs are an indispensable part of PSC which affects both
efficiency and stability. An overview of different types of HTMs (organic, inorganic,
and polymeric) is presented detailing its structure, electrochemical, and physical
properties, while highlighting several considerations for making a choice for a new
HTM for PSC. The recent progress is shown with PSC’s device architecture, fabrication technique and their respective JV characteristics to help readers understand
the challenges surrounding HTM and opportunities to make it highly efficient and
stable.
Keywords Perovskite solar cells · Hole transport materials · Charge carriers ·
Methylammonium lead iodide
1 Introduction
In 2009, Miyasaka et al. in their seminal work found out that organometal halide
perovskite can be used as a light-absorbing layer in a solar cell (Kojima et al. 2009).
This particular solar cell had an efficiency of 3.8% which made a big paradigm shift
onto a premise of a novel type of solar cell. The perovskite compound which was used
as the visible light sensitizer has the chemical form of CH 3 NH 3 PbX 3 or MAPbX 3
where X is a halogen. This gave rise to a plethora of new research under solar cells
which are collectively called “third-generation solar cell.” At present, the efficiency
S. Nair · J. V. Gohel (B)
Department of Chemical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat
395007, Gujarat, India
e-mail: jignasa.narsinhbhai@gmail.com
S. Nair
e-mail: saikunair@gmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
L. Ledwani and J. S. Sangwai (eds.), Nanotechnology for Energy and Environmental
Engineering, Green Energy and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33774-2_6
145
Transport Materials for Perovskite Solar
Cells
Saikumar Nair and Jignasa V. Gohel
Abstract The present review article is focussed on different types of holetransporting materials (HTMs) under research over the past few years in the
perovskite-based solar cell (PSC) in achieving the goal of higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) and operational stability. There has been a growth spurt of
efficiency from 3.8 to 22.1% in the last decade which has attracted researchers and
the renewable industry. HTMs are an indispensable part of PSC which affects both
efficiency and stability. An overview of different types of HTMs (organic, inorganic,
and polymeric) is presented detailing its structure, electrochemical, and physical
properties, while highlighting several considerations for making a choice for a new
HTM for PSC. The recent progress is shown with PSC’s device architecture, fabrication technique and their respective JV characteristics to help readers understand
the challenges surrounding HTM and opportunities to make it highly efficient and
stable.
Keywords Perovskite solar cells · Hole transport materials · Charge carriers ·
Methylammonium lead iodide
1 Introduction
In 2009, Miyasaka et al. in their seminal work found out that organometal halide
perovskite can be used as a light-absorbing layer in a solar cell (Kojima et al. 2009).
This particular solar cell had an efficiency of 3.8% which made a big paradigm shift
onto a premise of a novel type of solar cell. The perovskite compound which was used
as the visible light sensitizer has the chemical form of CH 3 NH 3 PbX 3 or MAPbX 3
where X is a halogen. This gave rise to a plethora of new research under solar cells
which are collectively called “third-generation solar cell.” At present, the efficiency
S. Nair · J. V. Gohel (B)
Department of Chemical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat
395007, Gujarat, India
e-mail: jignasa.narsinhbhai@gmail.com
S. Nair
e-mail: saikunair@gmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
L. Ledwani and J. S. Sangwai (eds.), Nanotechnology for Energy and Environmental
Engineering, Green Energy and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33774-2_6
145