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Expanding the low-dimensional interface engineering toolbox for efficient perovskite solar cells

Nature Energy volume 8, pages 284–293 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Three-dimensional/low-dimensional perovskite solar cells afford improved efficiency and stability. The design of low-dimensional capping materials is constrained to tuning the A-site organic cation, as Pb2+ and Sn2+ are the only options for the metal cation. Here we unlock access to a library of low-dimensional capping materials with metal cations beyond Pb2+/Sn2+ by processing a full precursor solution containing both metal and ammonium halides. This enables easier synthetic control of the low-dimensional capping layer and greater versatility for low-dimensional interface engineering. We demonstrate that a zero-dimensional zinc-based halogenometallate (PEA2ZnX4; PEA = phenethylammonium, X = Cl/I) induces more robust surface passivation and stronger n–N isotype three-dimensional/low-dimensional heterojunctions than its lead-based counterpart. We exhibit p–i–n solar cells with 24.1% efficiency (certified 23.25%). Our cells maintain 94.5% initial efficiency after >1,000 h of operation at the maximum power point. Our findings expand the material library for low-dimensional interface engineering and stabilization of highly efficient three-dimensional/low-dimensional perovskite solar cells.

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Fig. 1: Fabrication diagram of the 3D/LD stack films and structural characterization.
Fig. 2: Device architecture and photovoltaic parameter evolution with LD capping materials.
Fig. 3: Comparison of optoelectronic properties.
Fig. 4: Device performance and stability.

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Data availability

All of the data needed to evaluate the conclusions in this study are included in the article, its Supplementary Information and Source Data. The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in DR-NTU (Data) at https://doi.org/10.21979/N9/G6R8YG. Source Data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Ministry of Singapore under its AcRF Tier 1 (Project RG6/21 (2021-T1-001-072) to Y.M.L.) and Tier 2 grants (MOE2019-T2-1-006 to T.C.S., MOE2019-T2-1-085 to Y.M.L. and MOE-T2EP50120-0004 to T.C.S.), and the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore under its NRF Investigatorship (NRF-NRFI2018-04 to T.C.S.). We thank the Facility for Analysis, Characterisation, Testing and Simulation (FACTS) (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) for allowing us to use their electron microscopy, UPS instrument and X-ray facilities. We also thank the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) for PV authentication tests. We would like to thank Professor J. Bisquert (Universitat Jaume I) for the discussion on Mott–Schottky analysis. The computational work for this article was fully performed on resources of the National Supercomputing Centre, Singapore (https://www.nscc.sg).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Senyun Ye, Haixia Rao.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Senyun Ye, Minjun Feng, Qiang Xu, Yuanyuan Guo, Bo Wang, Qiannan Zhang, Huajun He, Yue Wang & Tze Chien Sum

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Haixia Rao, Lifei Xi, Zhihao Yen, Chris Boothroyd, Bingbing Chen, Teddy Salim, Xingchi Xiao & Yeng Ming Lam

  3. Facility for Analysis Characterisation Testing and Simulation, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Lifei Xi, Chris Boothroyd & Teddy Salim

  4. Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Innovis, Singapore, Singapore

    Debbie Hwee Leng Seng

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Contributions

T.C.S., Y.M.L., S.Y. and H.R. conceived the idea for the manuscript and designed the experiments. S.Y. and H.R. performed sample preparation, device fabrication, optimization and characterization. M.F. and Y.G. conducted the TRPL measurements. Z.Y. and S.T. performed the UPS measurements. L.X. prepared the sample lamella by FIB. L.X. and C.B. conducted the TEM measurements. B.C. performed the SEM measurements. S.Y. and Q.Z. performed the KPFM measurements. H.R. conducted the XRD and GIWAXS measurements. D.H.L.S. conducted the TOF-SIMS measurements. Q.X. performed DFT calculations. B.W. performed the photoluminescence imaging analysis. H.H., Y.W. and X.X assisted device fabrication. All of the authors were involved in discussions of data analysis and commented on the manuscript. T.C.S., Y.M.L., S.Y. and H.R. wrote and revised the manuscript. T.C.S. and Y.M.L. led the project.

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Correspondence to Yeng Ming Lam or Tze Chien Sum.

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Nature Energy thanks Wanyi Nie and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Notes 1–4, Figs. 1–41, Tables 1–18 and references.

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Supplementary Video 1

The proposed FP capping process.

Supplementary Data 1

Source Data for Supplementary Fig. 36.

Supplementary Data 2

Source Data for Supplementary Tables 5–8 and 11–17.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 4

Source Data for Fig. 4b,d.

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Ye, S., Rao, H., Feng, M. et al. Expanding the low-dimensional interface engineering toolbox for efficient perovskite solar cells. Nat Energy 8, 284–293 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-023-01204-z

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