UC San Diego

The hole-transporting layer currently remains one of the obstacles preventing large-scale implementation of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). By using electrochemical polymerization to deposit the conducting polymer, polythiophene, onto perovskite, the major limitations prevalent in current methods can be avoided. The technique allows for uniform thickness of the deposited layer and utilizes cheap reagents that matches the low cost of the perovskite layer. Polythiophene films were grown and characterized by FTIR, SEM, EDX, and UV-Vis in order to gain an understanding of how growth conditions affected film properties. Based on these results, I developed a method for large-area deposition that is compatible with industrial scale solar cell production. This method was used to fabricate PSCs with polythiophene as the hole-transporting layer in inverted architecture. Investigations into in situ electropolymerized polythiophene onto perovskite was also explored