Abstract
Metal halide perovskite solar cells are expected to lead the revolution in photovoltaics. However, due to their soft and ionic lattice, perovskites are sensitive to external stimuli, and the resulting devices suffer from noticeable fatigue under cyclic stressors in real-world applications. Due to the lack of a fundamental understanding of the metastable dynamics of materials degradation, effective means to alleviate device fatigue under cyclic illumination are lacking. Here we introduce a starch–polyiodide supermolecule as a bifunctional buffer layer at the perovskite interface, which can both suppress ion migration and promote defect self-healing. The modified perovskite solar cells exhibit improved stability by retaining 98% of their original power conversion efficiency after operation for 42 diurnal cycles (12/12 h light/dark cycle). The devices also deliver a power conversion efficiency of 24.3% (certified, 23.9%) and an intense electroluminescence with external quantum efficiencies above 12.0%. Our findings shed light on how supramolecular chemistry modulates the metastable dynamics of degradation in perovskites and other materials with soft lattices.
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All the data supporting the findings of this study are available within this Article and its Supplementary Information. Any additional information can be obtained from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank J. Zhou (Peking University) for her support in the discussions and characterizations. We acknowledge the data analysis of X-ray sources from Y. Ma and Y. Wang of Jiangnan University. We thank X. Wang (Peking University) for his help with the use of confocal fluorescence microscopy; J. Shi and Q. Meng (Institute of Physics, CAS) for the modulated transient photocurrent measurements; J. Wang (Nanjing Tech University) for the PLQY measurement; and H. Yan (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) for the secondary ion mass spectrometry measurements. We thank Y. Jiang (Peking University) for help with the operation of the stylus profilometer. H. Zhou acknowledges the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2020YFB1506400), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 52125206 and 51972004) and the New Cornerstone Science Foundation through the XPLORER PRIZE. G.L. acknowledges the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 52202241).
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Y.Z. and H. Zhou conceived the project. Y.Z. prepared the samples, fabricated and characterized the devices, performed the stability test, analysed the data and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. H. Zhou supervised the project. Q.S. designed and performed the density functional theory calculations. Y.C., N.L., Z.Q., W.Z. and Z.G. contributed to the PL and scanning electron microscopy measurements. Z.G. helped with the EL measurements. X.N. helped with the EQE, PL mapping and XPS measurements. G.L. helped build the light/dark cycle stability test equipment. W.H. conducted the grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering measurements. Y.B., Y.C., N.L., Z.H., C.Z., S.M. and H. Zai contributed to the fabrication of high-performance PSCs. Y.Z., Q.C. and H. Zhou revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to the discussion and commented on the manuscript.
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Zhang, Y., Song, Q., Liu, G. et al. Improved fatigue behaviour of perovskite solar cells with an interfacial starch–polyiodide buffer layer. Nat. Photon. 17, 1066–1073 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-023-01287-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-023-01287-w
