Precursor Engineering of the Electron Transport Layer for Application in High-Performance Perovskite Solar Cells

The electron transport layer (ETL) is a key component of regular perovskite solar cells to promote the overall charge extraction efficiency and tune the crystallinity of the perovskite layer for better device performance. The authors present a novel protocol of ETL engineering by incorporating a composition of the perovskite precursor, methylammonium chloride (MACl), or formamidine chloride (FACl), into SnO₂ layers, which are then converted into the crystal nuclei of perovskites by reaction with PbI₂ . The SnO₂ -embedded nuclei remarkably improve the morphology and crystallinity of the optically active perovskite layers. The improved ETL-to-perovskite electrical contact and dense packing of large-grained perovskites enhance the carrier mobility and suppress charge recombination. The power conversion efficiency increases from 20.12% (blank device) to 21.87% (21.72%) for devices with MACl (FACl) as an ETL dopant. Moreover, all the precursor-engineered cells exhibit a record-high fill factor (82%).