A simple 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene based hole-transporting material for perovskite solar cells

We report a novel electron-rich molecule based on 3,4- ethylenedioxythiophene (H101). When used as the hole-transporting layer in a perovskite-based solar cell, the power-conversion efficiency reached 13.8 % under AM 1.5G solar simulation. This result is comparable with that obtained using the well-known hole transporting material 2,2′,7,7′- tetrakis(N,N-di-p-methoxyphenylamine)-9,9′-spirobifluorene (spiro-OMeTAD). This is the first heterocycle-containing material achieving >10 % efficiency in such devices, and has great potential to replace the expensive spiro-OMeTAD given its much simpler and cheaper synthesis. Heterocycle power! A power-conversion efficiency of 13.8 % under AM 1.5G illumination was achieved in a perovskite-based solar cell with a new hole-transporting material based on 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (H101). This is the first heterocycle-containing material with >10 % efficiency in such devices, and has great potential to replace the more expensive spiro-OMeTAD, given its much simpler and less expensive synthesis.