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Push–pull substituent design of fullerene dimer at the buried interface toward stable and efficient perovskite solar cells

面向高效稳定钙钛矿太阳能电池埋底界面的推-拉型 富勒烯二聚体设计

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Abstract

Defective interface contact is detrimental to the performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), by inducing hysteresis, reducing power conversion efficiency (PCE) and deteriorating operation stability. Interlayer materials are commonly utilized to eliminate interfacial defects; however the design of efficient molecules with superior charge transport and defect passivation capabilities remains a big challenge. Herein, four novel fullerene dimers DC60–R1–R2 (R1 = H or Cl, R2 = H or MeO) are synthesized as the interlayers between metal oxides and perovskites. The polar substituents of these fullerene dimers are found to determine the intermolecular interaction between these fullerene molecules, with DC60–Cl–MeO showing the greatest intermolecular charge transport and passivation ability due to the strongest push-pull effect of the electron-accepting chloride (–Cl) and electron-donating methoxy (–MeO). The non-encapsulated planar (FAPbI3)x(MAPbBr3)1−x PSC with DC60–Cl–MeO as the interlayer delivers a maximum PCE of 23.3% with no hysteresis, maintaining nearly 100% of the initial efficiency after being stored in a high humidity environment over 500 h. The extrapolated TS80 lifetime (the time required to reach 80% of initial performance) of the PSC device could be extended to 1110 h at the maximum power point operation condition under one sun illumination without any encapsulation or inert gas protection, superior to the pure SnO2-based device (0.5 h). Fullerene derivatives with push-pull substituents are therefore promising candidates as the interfacial materials for PSCs to receive high performance.

摘要

钙钛矿太阳能电池(PSCs)的界面接触缺陷是影响其性能的重要 因素, 会引发迟滞效应从而降低转换效率(PCE)并使器件运行稳定性恶 化. 界面材料通常被用于消除界面缺陷, 然而设计兼具优越电荷传输和 缺陷钝化能力的高效界面分子仍然面临挑战. 本文研究了四种新型推-拉型富勒烯二聚体DC60–R1–R2 (R1 = H或Cl, R2 = H或MeO), 并将其作 为金属氧化物和钙钛矿之间的界面层. 这些富勒烯二聚体之间的极性 取代基决定了分子间的相互作用, DC60–Cl–MeO由于其吸电子基团 (–Cl)与给电子基团(–MeO)之间最强的电子推拉效应, 表现出最佳的电 荷传输和缺陷钝化能力. DC60–Cl–MeO作为界面材料的未封装平面结 构(FAPbI3)x(MAPbBr3)1−x PSC获得最高23.3%的PCE, 且无迟滞现象, 即使在高湿环境中储存500小时后仍能保持接近100%的初始效率. 在 一个太阳光强度下, 无需任何封装或者惰性气体保护, 钙钛矿太阳能电 池在最大功率点连续运行的外推T S80 寿命(效率下降到初始值的80%)从 参比器件的0.5小时延长到1110小时. 推-拉型富勒烯分子是极具潜力的 钙钛矿太阳能电池界面材料.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22279098 and 22271083)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Hui Wang  (王卉), Chuanhang Guo  (郭传航), Shuai Zeng  (曾帅), Xiangyang Li  (李向阳), Tao Wang  (王涛) & Dan Liu  (刘丹)

  2. School of Materials and Microelectronics, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Hui Wang  (王卉) & Tao Wang  (王涛)

  3. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for the Synthesis and Application of Organic Functional Molecules, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China

    Fabao Li  (李法宝) & Huayu Fu  (付华宇)

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  1. Hui Wang  (王卉)
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  2. Chuanhang Guo  (郭传航)
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Contributions

Author contributions Wang H fabricated the solar cells and collected the data, with assistance from Zeng S and Li X Fu H synthesized the fullerene dimers under the supervision of Li F Guo C characterized the film morphology. Liu D and Wang T conceived the idea and supervised the project. All authors discussed the results and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Tao Wang  (王涛) or Dan Liu  (刘丹).

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Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Supplementary information Experimental details and supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Hui Wang received her BE degree in materials science and engineering from Wuhan University of Technology, China in 2018. She is currently a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Tao Wang at Wuhan University of Technology, and is working on PSCs.

Tao Wang received his BS degree in polymer materials and MS degree in materials science. He obtained his PhD degree in soft condensed matter physics from the University of Surrey (UK) in 2009, and then moved to the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sheffield (UK) where he worked as a post-doc on organic solar cells. He was appointed professor at the School of Materials Science & Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology (China) in 2013. His research interests are organic and hybrid optoelectronic devices.

Dan Liu received her PhD degree in physics from the University of Surrey, UK in 2010. She was a post-doc research associate at the School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, UK before joining the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, China as an associate professor in 2014. Her research interests are functional thin films for optoelectronic devices.

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40843_2023_2675_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Supporting Information: Push–pull substituent design of fullerene dimer at the buried interface toward stable and efficient perovskite solar cells

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Wang, H., Guo, C., Li, F. et al. Push–pull substituent design of fullerene dimer at the buried interface toward stable and efficient perovskite solar cells. Sci. China Mater. 67, 58–66 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-023-2675-6

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