Glutathione-Coated Gold Nanoparticles Enabling Bifunctional Therapy at the Buried Interface for Efficient and...

Very recently, the poor contact between the perovskite and carrier selective layer has been regarded as a critical issue for improving the performance and stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this study, the buried interface of regularly structured PSCs has been targeted. Glutathione-coated gold nanoparticles (GSH-AuNPs) are used as double-sided passivating agents to improve the quality of the perovskite films. It has been demonstrated that the GSH-AuNPs interact strongly with the SnO₂ underlayer and the upper perovskite layer, significantly reducing the defect densities of this interface. Thus, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the PSCs can be increased from 20.46% (control, 19.38%, IPCE corrected) to 22.22% (GSH-AuNPs modified, 21.10%, IPCE corrected) with notable enhancement in Voc and FF. Moreover, the strong interaction between the C═O groups of GSH-AuNPs and the undercoordinated Pb²⁺ species of the perovskite films inhibits the formation of metallic Pb⁰. As a result, the unencapsulated GSH-AuNPs-modified devices retained 80% of their initial PCEs after 1000 h at ambient conditions, with a relative humidity (RH) of 60 ± 5%. UV-resistant PSCs have also been demonstrated after introducing GSH-AuNPs. Therefore, our findings demonstrate the bidirectional therapy strategy as a feasible approach for achieving efficient and UV-resistant PSCs.