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Stable and highly efficient perovskite solar cells: Doping hydrophobic fluoride into hole transport material PTAA

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Abstract

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have rapidly developed in the past few years, with a record efficiency exceeding 25%. However, the long-term stability of PSCs remains a challenge and limits their practical application. Many high-performance PSCs have an n-i-p device architecture employing 4-tert-butylpyridine (t-BP) and bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide lithium salt (Li-TFSI) as bi-dopants for the hole-transporting layer (HTL). However, the hygroscopicity of Li-TFSI and low boiling point of t-BP negatively impact the moisture stability of these PSC devices. Herein, we report the use of the fluorine-containing hydrophobic compound tris(pentafluorophenyl)phosphine (35FP) as a dopant for poly[bis(4-phenyl)(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)amine] (PTAA). With better hydrophobicity and stability than undoped PTAA, a PSC device containing 35FP-doped PTAA demonstrated improved charge transport properties and reduced trap density, leading to a significant enhancement in performance. In addition, the long-term stability of a 35FP-doped PTAA PSC under air exposure without encapsulation was demonstrated, with 80% of the initial device efficiency maintained for 1,000 h. This work provides a new approach for the fabrication of efficient and stable PSCs to explore hydrophobic dopants as a substitute for hydrophilic Li-TFSI/t-BP.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61974054 and 61675088), the International Science & Technology Cooperation Program of Jilin (No. 20190701023GH), the Scientific and Technological Developing Scheme of Jilin Province (Nos. 20200401045GX), and the Project of Science and Technology Development Plan of Jilin Province (No. 20190302011G).

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, College of Electronic Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China

    Chao Yu, Buyue Zhang, Chen Chen, Jintao Wang, Jian Zhang, Ping Chen, Chuannan Li & Yu Duan

  2. College of Science, Changchun University of Science and Technology, Changchun, 130012, China

    Buyue Zhang & Jintao Wang

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  1. Chao Yu
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  2. Buyue Zhang
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Yu, C., Zhang, B., Chen, C. et al. Stable and highly efficient perovskite solar cells: Doping hydrophobic fluoride into hole transport material PTAA. Nano Res. 15, 4431–4438 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-4056-x

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