Organometal Halide Perovskites as Visible-Light Sensitizers for Photovoltaic Cells¶
Why this mattered¶
This paper mattered because it showed that organometal halide perovskites could function as powerful visible-light absorbers in photovoltaic devices, not merely as chemically interesting semiconductors. In 2009, the reported efficiencies were modest by later standards, but the key result was conceptual: methylammonium lead halide perovskites could be self-assembled onto mesoporous TiO₂, absorb strongly across much of the visible spectrum, inject charge, and produce measurable solar-cell performance. The iodide compound’s sensitivity out to 800 nm was especially important because it placed these materials in the spectral range required for serious photovoltaic relevance.
The paradigm shift was that a low-temperature, solution-processable material could combine properties usually sought separately: strong optical absorption, tunable band gaps, high photovoltage, and compatibility with mesoscopic device architectures. The devices in this paper were still liquid-electrolyte photoelectrochemical cells, and their instability limited immediate practical impact. But the work made a new research program possible: replacing traditional dye sensitizers with perovskite semiconductors and then rethinking the whole device stack around them.
Subsequent breakthroughs built directly on this opening. Once researchers replaced the liquid electrolyte with solid hole-transport layers and learned to control perovskite film formation, perovskite solar cells rapidly moved from a curiosity at a few percent efficiency to one of the fastest-improving photovoltaic technologies ever reported. The 2009 Kojima, Teshima, Shirai, and Miyasaka paper is therefore remembered less for its initial 3.8% efficiency than for identifying the material platform that made the later perovskite photovoltaic revolution possible.
Abstract¶
Two organolead halide perovskite nanocrystals, CH(3)NH(3)PbBr(3) and CH(3)NH(3)PbI(3), were found to efficiently sensitize TiO(2) for visible-light conversion in photoelectrochemical cells. When self-assembled on mesoporous TiO(2) films, the nanocrystalline perovskites exhibit strong band-gap absorptions as semiconductors. The CH(3)NH(3)PbI(3)-based photocell with spectral sensitivity of up to 800 nm yielded a solar energy conversion efficiency of 3.8%. The CH(3)NH(3)PbBr(3)-based cell showed a high photovoltage of 0.96 V with an external quantum conversion efficiency of 65%.
Related¶
- cite ← Lead Iodide Perovskite Sensitized All-Solid-State Submicron Thin Film Mesoscopic Solar Cell with Efficiency Exceeding 9% — The 2012 solid-state perovskite solar cell builds on the 2009 demonstration that organometal halide perovskites can act as visible-light photovoltaic sensitizers.
- cite ← Electron-Hole Diffusion Lengths Exceeding 1 Micrometer in an Organometal Trihalide Perovskite Absorber — The 2009 paper introduced organometal halide perovskites as visible-light sensitizers, providing the material platform whose carrier diffusion lengths the 2013 paper measures.
- cite ← Efficient Hybrid Solar Cells Based on Meso-Superstructured Organometal Halide Perovskites — The 2012 perovskite solar-cell paper follows Kojima et al.'s 2009 claim that organometal halide perovskites can act as visible-light sensitizers in photovoltaic cells.
- cite ← Sequential deposition as a route to high-performance perovskite-sensitized solar cells — Burschka et al. cite Kojima et al. for introducing organometal halide perovskites as visible-light photovoltaic sensitizers.