Improving the performance of perovskite solar cells with glycerol-doped PEDOT:PSS buffer layer

In this paper, we investigate the effects of glycerol doping on transmittance, conductivity and surface morphology of poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene): poly(styrene sulfonate)) (PEDOT: PSS) and its influence on the performance of perovskite solar cells.. The conductivity of PEDOT: PSS is improved obviously by doping glycerol. The maximum of the conductivity is 0.89 S/cm when the doping concentration reaches 6 wt%, which increases about 127 times compared with undoped. The perovskite solar cells are fabricated with a configuration of indium tin oxide (ITO)/PEDOT: PSS/CH3NH3PbI3/PC61BM/Al, where PEDOT: PSS and PC61BM are used as hole and electron transport layers, respectively. The results show an improvement of hole charge transport as well as an increase of short-circuit current density and a reduction of series resistance, owing to the higher conductivity of the doped PEDOT: PSS. Consequently, it improves the whole performance of perovskite solar cell. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device is improved from 8.57% to 11.03% under AM 1.5 G (100 mW/cm(2) illumination) after the buffer layer has been modified.