Highly transparent anti-reflection coating enhances the underwater efficiency and stability of perovskite solar modules

Abstract

Perovskite solar cells have shown great potential in the field of underwater solar cells due to their excellent optoelectronic properties; however, their underwater performance and stability still hinder their practical use. In this research, a 1H,1H,2H,2H-heptadecafluorodecyl acrylate (HFDA) anti-reflection coating (ARC) was introduced as a high-transparent material for encapsulating perovskite solar modules (PSMs). Optical characterization results revealed that HFDA can effectively reduce reflection of light below 800 nm, aiding in the absorption of light within this wavelength range by underwater solar cells. Thus, a remarkable efficiency of 14.65% was achieved even at a water depth of 50 cm. And, the concentration of Pb²⁺ for HFDA-encapsulated film is significantly reduced from 186 to 16.5 ppb after being immersed in water for 347 h. Interestingly, the encapsulated PSMs still remained above 80% of their initial efficiency after continuous underwater illumination for 400 h. Furthermore, being exposed to air, the encapsulated PSMs maintained 94% of their original efficiency after 1000 h light illumination. This highly transparent ARC shows great potentials in enhancing the stability of perovskite devices, applicable not only to underwater cells but also extendable to land-based photovoltaic devices.