Toward Revealing the Critical Role of Perovskite Coverage in Highly Efficient Electron-Transport Layer-Free Perovskite Solar Cells: An Energy Band and Equivalent Circuit Model Perspective

Currently, most efficient perovskite solar cells (PVKSCs) with a p–i–n structure require simultaneously electron transport layers (ETLs) and hole transport layers (HTLs) to help collecting photogenerated electrons and holes for obtaining high performance. ETL free planar PVKSC is a relatively new and simple structured solar cell that gets rid of the complex and high temperature required ETL (such as compact and mesoporous TiO₂). Here, we demonstrate the critical role of high coverage of perovskite in efficient ETL free PVKSCs from an energy band and equivalent circuit model perspective. From an electrical point of view, we confirmed that the low coverage of perovskite does cause localized short circuit of the device. With coverage optimization, a planar p–i–n⁺⁺ device with a power conversion efficiency of over 11% was achieved, implying that the ETL layer may not be necessary for an efficient device as long as the perovskite coverage is approaching 100%.