Nonstoichiometric Adduct Approach for High-Efficiency Perovskite Solar Cells

Since the groundbreaking report on a solid-state perovskite solar cell employing a methylammonium lead iodide-sensitized mesoporous TiO₂ film and an organic hole conducting layer in 2012 by our group, the swift surge of perovskite photovoltaics opens a new paradigm in solar-cell research. As a result, ca. 1300 peer-reviewed research articles were published in 2015. In this Inorganic Chemistry Forum on Halide Perovskite, the researches with highlights of work on perovskite solar cells in my laboratory are reviewed. We have developed a size-controllable two-step spin-coating method and found that minimal nonradiative recombination in perovskite crystals could lead to high photovoltaic performance. A Lewis acid based adduct method and self-formed grain boundary process were developed for high-efficiency devices with reproducibility. A power conversion efficiency of 20.4% was achieved via grain boundary engineering based on a nonstoichiometric adduct approach. The incorporation of cesium in a formamidinium lead iodide perovskite was found to show better photostability and moisture-stability. A reduction in the dimensionality from a three-dimensitonal nanocrystal to a one-dimensional nanowire led to a hypsochromic shift of absorption and fluorescence. To enhance the charge-carrier transport and light-harvesting efficiency, a nanoarchitecture of oxide layers was proposed.