Grain-Boundary "Patches" by In Situ Conversion to Enhance Perovskite Solar Cells Stability

Lang Liu; Sheng Huang; Yue Lu; Pengfei Liu; Yizhou Zhao; Congbo Shi; Siyu Zhang; Jiafeng Wu; Haizheng Zhong; Manling Sui; Huanping Zhou; Haibo Jin; Yujing Li; Qi Chen

doi:10.1002/adma.201800544

Grain-Boundary "Patches" by In Situ Conversion to Enhance Perovskite Solar Cells Stability

Adv Mater. 2018 Jun 7:e1800544. doi: 10.1002/adma.201800544. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Lang Liu¹, Sheng Huang¹, Yue Lu², Pengfei Liu¹, Yizhou Zhao¹, Congbo Shi¹, Siyu Zhang¹, Jiafeng Wu¹, Haizheng Zhong¹, Manling Sui², Huanping Zhou³, Haibo Jin¹, Yujing Li¹, Qi Chen^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Beijing Key Laboratory of Nanophotonics and Ultrafine Optoelectronic Systems, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China.
² Institute of Microstructure and Properties of Advanced Materials, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
⁴ Advanced Research Institute for Multidisciplinary Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China.

PMID: 29882254
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201800544

Abstract

The power conversion efficiency of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells has increased rapidly, but the device stability remains a big challenge. Previous studies show the grain boundary (GB) can facilitate ion migration and initiate device degradation. Herein, methimazole (MMI) is employed for the first time to construct a surface "patch" by in situ converting residual PbI₂ at GBs. The resultant MMI-PbI₂ complex can effectively suppress ion migration and inhibit diffusion of the metal electrodes. The origin of the surface "patch" effect and their working mechanisms are investigated experimentally and theoretically at the microscopic level. It hence demonstrates a simple and effective method to prolong the device stability in the context of GB engineering, which could be extensively applied to perovskite-based optoelectronics.

Keywords: grain-boundary engineering; methimazole; patch; perovskite solar cells; stability.