Surface reaction for efficient and stable inverted perovskite solar cells

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Nature (London)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05268-x· OSTI ID:1887884

Jiang, Qi ^[1]; Tong, Jinhui ^[1]; Xian, Yeming ^[2]; Kerner, Ross A. ^[1]; Dunfield, Sean P. ^[3]; Xiao, Chuanxiao ^[1]; Scheidt, Rebecca A. ^[1]; Kuciauskas, Darius ^[1]; Wang, Xiaoming ^[2]; Hautzinger, Matthew P. ^[1]; Tirawat, Robert ^[1]; Beard, Matthew C. ^[1]; Fenning, David P. ^[4]; Berry, Joseph J. ^[5]; Larson, Bryon W. ^[1]; Yan, Yanfa ^[2]; Zhu, Kai ^[1]

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1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
2. University of Toledo, OH (United States)
3. University of California, San Diego, CA (United States); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
4. University of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
5. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)

We report perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with an inverted structure (often referred to as the p-i-n architecture) are attractive for future commercialization due to their easily scalable fabrication, reliable operation, and compatibility with a wide range of perovskite-based tandem device architectures. However, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of p-i-n PSCs falls behind n-i-p (or normal) structure counterparts. This large performance gap could undermine efforts to adopt p-i-n architectures, despite their other advantages. Given the remarkable advances in perovskite bulk materials optimization over the past decade, interface engineering has become the most important strategy to push PSC performance to its limit. Here, we report a reactive surface engineering approach based on a simple post-growth treatment of 3-(Aminomethyl)pyridine (3-APy) on top of a perovskite thin film. First, the 3-APy molecule selectively reacts with surface FA+, reducing perovskite surface roughness and surface potential fluctuations associated with surface steps/terraces. Second, the reaction product on the perovskite surface decreases the formation energy of charged iodine-vacancies, leading to effective n-type doping with a reduced work function in the surface region. With this reactive surface engineering, the resulting p-i-n PSCs obtained a PCE over 25%, along with retaining 87% of the initial PCE after over 2400 h of one-sun operation at about 55 degrees C in air.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: California Energy Commission; National Science Foundation; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308; EE0008790
• OSTI ID: 1887884
• Report Number(s): NREL/JA-5900-83612; MainId:84385; UUID:77799dd6-1e6a-43e4-aaa9-27c4acce3c56; MainAdminID:65419
• Journal Information: Nature (London), Journal Name: Nature (London) Journal Issue: 7935 Vol. 611; ISSN 0028-0836
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
high efficiency
p-i-n architecture
perovskite solar cells
stability
surface reaction