Simultaneously Enhancing Efficiency and Stability of Perovskite Solar Cells Through Crystal Cross-Linking Using Fluorophenylboronic Acid

Small. 2021 Sep;17(38):e2102090. doi: 10.1002/smll.202102090. Epub 2021 Aug 11.

Abstract

Organic-inorganic metal halide perovskites are regarded as one of the most promising candidates in the photovoltaic field, but simultaneous realization of high efficiency and long-term stability is still challenging. Here, a one-step solution-processing strategy is demonstrated for preparing efficient and stable inverted methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3 ) perovskite solar cells (PSCs) by incorporating a series of organic molecule dopants of fluorophenylboronic acids (F-PBAs) into perovskite films. Studies have shown that the F-PBA dopant acts as a cross-linker between neighboring perovskite grains through hydrogen bonds and coordination bonds between F-PBA and perovskite structures, yielding high-quality perovskite crystalline films with both improved crystallinity and reduced defect densities. Benefiting from the repaired grain boundaries of MAPbI3 with the organic cross-linker, the inverted PSCs exhibit a remarkably enhanced performance from 16.4% to approximately 20%. Meanwhile, the F-PBA doped devices exhibit enhanced moisture/thermal/light stability, and specially retain 80% of their initial power conversion efficiencies after more than two weeks under AM 1.5G one-sun illumination. This work highlights the impressive advantages of the perovskite crystal cross-linking strategy using organic molecules with strong intermolecular interactions, providing an efficient route to prepare high-performance and stable planar PSCs.

Keywords: crystal cross-linker; efficiency; grain boundaries; perovskite solar cells; stability.