Thiophene Cation Intercalation to Improve Band-Edge Integrity in Reduced-Dimensional Perovskites

Chuyi Ni; Yahao Huang; Tao Zeng; Daohong Chen; Hao Chen; Mingyang Wei; Andrew Johnston; Andrew H Proppe; Zhijun Ning; Edward H Sargent; Peng Hu; Zhenyu Yang

doi:10.1002/anie.202006112

Thiophene Cation Intercalation to Improve Band-Edge Integrity in Reduced-Dimensional Perovskites

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2020 Aug 10;59(33):13977-13983. doi: 10.1002/anie.202006112. Epub 2020 Jun 4.

Authors

Chuyi Ni¹, Yahao Huang¹, Tao Zeng^{2

3}, Daohong Chen¹, Hao Chen^{4

5}, Mingyang Wei⁴, Andrew Johnston⁴, Andrew H Proppe⁴, Zhijun Ning⁵, Edward H Sargent⁴, Peng Hu¹, Zhenyu Yang¹

Affiliations

¹ MOE Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, Lehn Institute of Functional Materials, School of Chemistry, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510275, China.
² Department of Chemistry, York University, Toronto, Ontario, M3J1P3, Canada.
³ Department of Chemistry, Carleton University, Ottawa, K1S5B6, Ontario, Canada.
⁴ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, 10 King's College Road, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G4, Canada.
⁵ School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, P. R. China.

PMID: 32383242
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202006112

Abstract

The insertion of large organic cations in metal halide perovskites with reduced-dimensional (RD) crystal structures increases crystal formation energy and regulates the growth orientation of the inorganic domains. However, the power conversion performance is curtailed by the insulating nature of the bulky cations. Now a series of RD perovskites with 2-thiophenmethylammonium (TMA) as the intercalating cation are investigated. Compared with traditional ligands, TMA demonstrates improved electron transfer in the inorganic framework. TMA modifies the near-band-edge integrity of the RD perovskite, improving hole transport. A power conversion efficiency of 19 % is achieved, the highest to date for TMA-based RD perovskite photovoltaics; these TMA devices provide a 12 % relative increase in PCE compared to control RD perovskite devices that use PEA as the intercalating ligand, a result of the improved charge transfer from the inorganic layer to the organic ligands.

Keywords: density functional theory; perovskites; reduced dimensionality; solar cells; thiophene.

Abstract

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