Saunders, BrianAlruwaili, Amal2024-10-302024https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14154/73390Photovoltaic (PV) technology plays a crucial role in the ongoing energy transition of the electricity power sector towards achieving greenhouse gas emission-free energy production. Among the promising PV technologies, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have gained significant attention in recent years due to their excellent optoelectronic material properties. In addition, active research is focused on improving aesthetics using solar energy. PSCs hold great potential for applications in building integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs) and vehicle-integrated photovoltaics (VIPVs). In this work, microgels (MGs) are introduced into the perovskite precursor solution in a one-step spin-coating deposition method to investigate their ability to prepare opaque structurally coloured PSCs neutral colour semi-transparent (ST) PSCs. Different sized poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNP) MGs are introduced into (FA0.52MA0.48)Pb(I0.83Cl0.17)3 precursor solution, resulting in disordered and ordered 2D non- close-packed particle arrays morphology. The medium-sized PNP MGs have successfully formed non-close-packed particle arrays with highly regular spacing, resulting in opaque structurally coloured films. Furthermore, perovskite structurally thick coloured films show remarkable stability, exhibiting relatively slow degradation, and the PSC devices from the structurally coloured films have an improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 12.98%, the highest reported to date for a PSC containing PNP MGs. On the other hand, the use of hydrophilic poly(N-vinylformamide-co-2-(N-vinylformamido) ethyl ether) (PNVF-xNVEE) MGs is selected to prepare neutral colour ST-PSCs by varying crosslinker concentrations (x) in (xNVEE), which is a novel approach. The results reveal that the (PNVF-xNVEE) MGs with a high degree of cross-linking gave ST-PSCs with a PCE of 6.04%, and the average visible transmittance (AVT) of the perovskite film exceeded 40%. These data indicate good potential for using MGs, as they offer a simple scalable fabrication process that may improve the aesthetic applications of PSCs in the future.311enPerovskite Solar CellsThesis