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Highly stable and efficient perovskite solar cells produced via high-boiling point solvents and additive engineering synergistically

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Abstract

The active absorber layer plays a crucial role in a perovskite solar cell. Herein, we used high boiling point γ-butyrolactone (GBL) as the main solvent, Pb(SCN)2 and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as an effective additive in the FA0.83MA0.17Cs0.05PbI(3−x)Brx solution to improve the quality of perovskite films. The GBL will delay the crystallization speed of the perovskite, and lead to the grain growth assisted by thiocyanate. The synergistic effect of the solvent engineering and additive engineering is beneficial to the slow growth of the grain size. It is found that the addition of Pb(SCN)2 increases Gibbs free energy barrier for the nucleation, leading to the formation of fewer nuclei, which results in a high quality of perovskite absorbers with larger grains and smoother surfaces. The synergistic effect of solvents and Pb(SCN)2 on the morphology and photovoltaic performances is investigated. Compared to devices without the additive, the efficiency of devices with 5% Pb(SCN)2-doped FA0.83MA0.17Cs0.05PbI(3−x)Brx is raised to 19.01% from 15.21%. We believe this breakthrough regarding high efficiency perovskite solar cells will help for their transitions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National University Research Fund (GK261001009), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61604090, 21663030), the Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Plan Project (2020JM-546), the Doctoral research initial funding from Yan’an University (YDBK2017-14), and the Natural Science Foundation of Yan’an University (YDQ2018-15). D. Y. acknowledged the financial support from Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-18-1-0233) and STTR Program (Nanosonic).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry of the Ministry of Education, Shaanxi Engineering Lab for Advanced Energy Technology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, 710062, China

    Qingbo Wei, Xiaodong Ren, Zhou Yang & Shengzhong (Frank) Liu

  2. Key Laboratory of Chemical Reaction Engineering of Shaanxi Province, College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Yan’an University, Yan’an, 716000, China

    Qingbo Wei, Zhangwen Ye & Feng Fu

  3. Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, China

    Shengzhong (Frank) Liu

  4. Materials Science and Engineering, Penn State, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Dong Yang

Authors
  1. Qingbo Wei
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  2. Zhangwen Ye
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  3. Xiaodong Ren
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  4. Feng Fu
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  5. Zhou Yang
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  6. Shengzhong (Frank) Liu
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  7. Dong Yang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Feng Fu, Shengzhong (Frank) Liu or Dong Yang.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The supporting information is available online at http://chem.scichina.com and http://link.springer.com/journal/11426. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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11426_2019_9727_MOESM1_ESM.docx

Highly stable and efficient perovskite solar cells produced via high-boiling point solvents and additive engineering synergistically

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Wei, Q., Ye, Z., Ren, X. et al. Highly stable and efficient perovskite solar cells produced via high-boiling point solvents and additive engineering synergistically. Sci. China Chem. 63, 818–826 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-019-9727-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-019-9727-8

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