Carbon nanotube/polymer composites as a highly stable hole collection layer in perovskite solar cells

Organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells have recently emerged at the forefront of photovoltaics research. Power conversion efficiencies have experienced an unprecedented increase to reported values exceeding 19% within just four years. With the focus mainly on efficiency, the aspect of stability has so far not been thoroughly addressed. In this paper, we identify thermal stability as a fundamental weak point of perovskite solar cells, and demonstrate an elegant approach to mitigating thermal degradation by replacing the organic hole transport material with polymer-functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) embedded in an insulating polymer matrix. With this composite structure, we achieve JV scanned power-conversion efficiencies of up to 15.3% with an average efficiency of 10 ± 2%. Moreover, we observe strong retardation in thermal degradation as compared to cells employing state-of-the-art organic hole-transporting materials. In addition, the resistance to water ingress is remarkably enhanced. These are critical developments for achieving long-term stability of high-efficiency perovskite solar cells.