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Reduction of bulk and surface defects in inverted methylammonium- and bromide-free formamidinium perovskite solar cells

Nature Energy volume 8, pages 839–849 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Power conversion efficiencies of inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs) based on methylammonium- and bromide-free formamidinium lead triiodide (FAPbI3) perovskites still lag behind PSCs with a regular configuration. Here we improve the quality of both the bulk and surface of FA0.98Cs0.02PbI3 perovskite films to reduce the efficiency gap. First, we use dibutyl sulfoxide, a Lewis base additive, to improve the crystallinity and reduce the defect density and internal residual stress of the perovskite bulk. Then, we treat the surface of the perovskite film with trifluorocarbon-modified phenethylammonium iodide to optimize the energy levels, passivate defects and protect the film against moisture. The inverted PSCs simultaneously achieve 25.1% efficiency (24.5% from the reverse current–voltage scan measured by a third-party institution) and improved stability. The devices maintained 97.4% and 98.2% of their initial power conversion efficiencies after operating under continuous 1-sun air mass 1.5 G illumination for 1,800 h and under damp heat conditions (85 °C and 85% relative humidity) for 1,000 h, respectively.

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Fig. 1: Modulation of perovskite films crystal growth.
Fig. 2: Characterization of the perovskite film’s quality.
Fig. 3: The effects of perovskite surface passivation.
Fig. 4: Photovoltaic performance and operational stability of PSCs.

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Data availability

The main data supporting the findings of this study are available within the published article and its supplementary information and source data files. Additional data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Project funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (grant no. 2021YFB3800104), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52002140 and U20A20252), Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST, the Self-determined and Innovative Research Funds of HUST (2020kfyXJJS008), the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2022CFA093) and the Innovation Project of Optics Valley Laboratory (grant no. OVL2021BG008). Y.Q. acknowledges the support from the Energy Materials and Surface Sciences Unit of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. P.A.T. acknowledges the support from Russian Science Foundation (project no. 19-73-30020P). L.H. acknowledges the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 11834011, 12074245 and U21A20171).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Rui Chen, Jianan Wang, Zonghao Liu, Fumeng Ren, Sanwan Liu, Jing Zhou, Haixin Wang, Xin Meng, Zheng Zhang, Xinyu Guan, Wenxi Liang & Wei Chen

  2. Optics Valley Laboratory, Hubei, China

    Zonghao Liu & Wei Chen

  3. Federal Research Center for Problems of Chemical Physics and Medicinal Chemistry of Russian Academy of Sciences, Chernogolovka, Russia

    Pavel A. Troshin

  4. Zhengzhou Research Institute of HIT, Zhengzhou, China

    Pavel A. Troshin

  5. Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China

    Pavel A. Troshin

  6. Energy Materials and Surface Sciences Unit (EMSSU), Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), Okinawa, Japan

    Yabing Qi

  7. State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Liyuan Han

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Contributions

R.C., J.W. and Z.L. contributed equally to this work. R.C., J.W., Z.L. and W.C. conceived the project and designed the experiments. R.C., J.W., F.R., S.L. and J.Z. were involved in all the experimental parts. R.C., J.W., F.R., Z.L. P.A.T., Y.Q., L.H. and W.C. co-wrote the paper. X.M., H.W., Z.Z. and W.L. contributed materials and analysis tools. W.C. directed and supervised this project. All authors discussed the results and commented on the paper.

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Correspondence to Wei Chen.

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Chen, R., Wang, J., Liu, Z. et al. Reduction of bulk and surface defects in inverted methylammonium- and bromide-free formamidinium perovskite solar cells. Nat Energy 8, 839–849 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-023-01288-7

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