Cementitious grain-boundary passivation for flexible perovskite solar cells with superior environmental stability and mechanical robustness

Xiaotian Hu; Xiangchuan Meng; Xia Yang; Zengqi Huang; Zhi Xing; Pengwei Li; Licheng Tan; Meng Su; Fengyu Li; Yiwang Chen; Yanlin Song

doi:10.1016/j.scib.2020.10.023

Cementitious grain-boundary passivation for flexible perovskite solar cells with superior environmental stability and mechanical robustness

Sci Bull (Beijing). 2021 Mar 30;66(6):527-535. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2020.10.023. Epub 2020 Nov 3.

Authors

Xiaotian Hu¹, Xiangchuan Meng¹, Xia Yang², Zengqi Huang³, Zhi Xing¹, Pengwei Li³, Licheng Tan¹, Meng Su³, Fengyu Li³, Yiwang Chen⁴, Yanlin Song⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry/Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry (IPEC), Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Green Printing, Institute of Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
⁴ College of Chemistry/Institute of Polymers and Energy Chemistry (IPEC), Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China; Institute of Advanced Scientific Research (iASR), Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, China. Electronic address: ywchen@ncu.edu.cn.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Green Printing, Institute of Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China. Electronic address: ylsong@iccas.ac.cn.

PMID: 36654422
DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2020.10.023

Abstract

The power conversion effciency (PCE) of flexible perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has increased rapidly, while the mechanical flexibility and environmental stability are still far from satisfactory. Previous studies show the environmental degradation and ductile cracks of perovskite films usually begin at the grain boundaries (GBs). Herein, sulfonated graphene oxide (s-GO) is employed to construct a cementitious GBs by interacting with the [PbI₆]^4- at GBs. The resultant s-GO-[PbI₆]^4- complex can effectively passivate the defects of vacant iodine, and the devices with s-GO exhibit remarkable waterproofness and flexibility due to the tough and water-insoluble GBs. The champion PCE of 20.56% (1.01 cm²) in a device treated with s-GO is achieved. This device retains 90% of its original PCE after 180 d stored in the ambient condition, as well as over 80% retention after 10,000 bending cycles at a curvature radius of 3 mm.

Keywords: Cementitious grain boundary; Mechanical robustness; Perovskites solar cells; Sulfonated graphene oxide.