Enhancing the efficiency of mixed halide mesoporous perovskite solar cells by introducing amine modified graphene oxide buffer layer

In this study, graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized via Tour method and then modified with two different amine sources that contained different branched alkyl chains. The GO and modified GOs (mGOs) with dihexylamine (DHA) and 2-ethylhexylamine (2EHA) as amine sources were used respectively as buffer layers in mixed halide mesoporous perovskite solar cells (PSCs) in order to examine whether they could improve their performance. GO and mGO samples were characterized by several techniques such as X–Ray Diffraction, X–Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman analysis and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The preparation of the CH3NH3PbI3-xClx perovskite solution was performed using standard Schlenk techniques under argon atmosphere to attain a homogeneous coverage of the perovskite film. The solar cells with the additional layer of mGO derivatives between perovskite and hole transporting layer showed an improved overall performance compared to the reference devices which was attributed to the enhanced charge carrier transport via the mGOs. In particular, 10% increase to the overall performance of the solar cells was monitored in devices where 2-ethylhexylamine (2EHA) modified GO was used, compared to standard cell without buffer layer.