Effect of the Particle Size and Lifespan of Activated Carbon-Based Electrode on the Performance of Perovskite Solar Cells

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) studies focus on low-cost material deployment in the present time. The best performance of PSC to convert light energy into electricity is PSC that employing gold (Au) as the counter electrode (CE), which is an expensive material. Carbon becomes the best alternative material to replace Au as CE, which is a low-cost material. On the other side, carbon has a work function of 5.0 eV near the work function of Au (5.1 eV). Carbon also a diversity material according to the atom bonds that dividing carbon into several allotropes. Activated carbon derived from biological material is one of carbon's allotropes that only a few researches deploying activated carbon as CE. Therefore, in this research, the effect of particle size and lifespan of the activated carbon-based electrode to PSCs performance will be investigated. The fabrication procedure and measurement process of PSCs production with an activated carbon-based electrode is described in this paper. Carbon with the particle size of mesh 1000 and lifespan of 0 days exhibit the best performance, which is produced VOC of 1.28 volt; ISC of 8.04 mA; FF of 0.512; and power conversion energy (PCE) of 2.85%.