Machine Learning-Assisted Fabrication of PCBM-Perovskite Solar Cells
with Nanopatterned TiO2 Layer
Abstract
To unlock the full potential of PSCs, machine learning (ML) was
implemented in this research to predict the best combination of
mesoporous-titanium dioxide (mp-TiO2) and weight
percentage (wt%) of phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl
ester (PCBM), along with the current density
(Jsc), open-circuit voltage
(Voc), fill factor (ff) and energy
conversion efficiency (ECE). Then, the combination that yielded the
highest predicted ECE was selected as a reference to fabricate PCBM-PSCs
with nanopatterned TiO2 layer. Subsequently, the
PCBM-PSCs with nanopatterned TiO2 layers were fabricated
and characterized to further understand the dual effects of
nanopatterning depth and wt% of PCBM on PSCs. Experimentally, the
highest ECE of 17.336% is achieved at 127 nm nanopatterning depth and
0.10 wt% of PCBM, where the Jsc,
Voc and ff are 22.877
mA/cm2, 0.963 V and 0.787, respectively. The measured
Jsc, Voc, ff and
ECE values show consistencies with the ML prediction. Hence, these
findings not only revealed the potential of ML to be used as a
preliminary investigation to navigate the research of PSCs, but also
highlighted that nanopatterning depth has a significant impact on
Jsc, and the incorporation of PCBM on perovskite
layer influenced the Voc and ff, which
further boosted the performance of PSCs.