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Indexed by:Journal Papers

Date of Publication:2019-09-01

Journal:SOLAR RRL

Included Journals:SCIE

Volume:3

Issue:9,SI

ISSN No.:2367-198X

Key Words:hole-transport materials; carbazole; linking topology; mesoscopic solar cells; perovskite solar cells

Abstract:Carbazole is a promising core for the molecular design of hole-transport materials (HTMs) for solid-state mesoscopic solar cells (ssMSCs), such as solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (ssDSSCs) and perovskite solar cells (PSCs) due to its low cost and excellent optoelectronic properties of its derivatives. Although carbazole-based HTMs are intensely investigated in ssMSCs and promising device performance is demonstrated, the fundamental understanding of the impact of linking topology on the properties of carbazole-based HTMs is lacking. Herein, the effect of the linking topology on the optical and electronic properties of a series of carbazole-based HTMs with 2,7-substitution and 3,6-substitution is systematically investigated. The results demonstrate that the 2,7-substituted carbazole-based HTMs display higher hole mobility and conductivity among this series of analogous molecules, thereby exhibiting better device performance. In addition, the conductivity of the HTMs is improved after light treatment, which explains the commonly observed light-soaking phenomenon of ssMSCs in general. All these carbazole-based HTMs are successfully applied in ssMSCs and one of the HTMs X50-based devices yield a promising efficiency of 6.8% and 19.2% in ssDSSCs and PSCs, respectively. This study provides guidance for the molecular design of effective carbazole-based HTMs for high-performance ssMSCs and related electronic devices.