Morphology and Performance Enhancement through the Strong Passivation Effect of Amphoteric Ions in Tin-based Perovskite Solar Cells

Small. 2023 Sep;19(39):e2302418. doi: 10.1002/smll.202302418. Epub 2023 May 26.

Abstract

Despite the optoelectronic similarities between tin and lead halide perovskites, the performance of tin-based perovskite solar cells remains far behind, with the highest reported efficiency to date being ≈14%. This is highly correlated to the instability of tin halide perovskite, as well as the rapid crystallization behavior in perovskite film formation. In this work, l-Asparagine as a zwitterion plays a dual role in controlling the nucleation/crystallization process and improving the morphology of perovskite film. Furthermore, tin perovskites with l-Asparagine show more favorable energy-level matching, enhancing the charge extraction and minimizing the charge recombination, leading to an enhanced power conversion efficiency of 13.31% (from 10.54% without l-Asparagine) with remarkable stability. These results are also in good agreement with the density functional theory calculations. This work not only provides a facile and efficient approach to controlling the crystallization and morphology of perovskite film but also offers guidelines for further improved performance of tin-based perovskite electronic devices.

Keywords: amphoteric ions; crystallinity; defect passivation; morphology; tin-based perovskite solar cells.