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Flash Infrared Annealing for Perovskite Solar Cell Processing
Published on: February 3, 2021
Dynamic Redox-Active Self-Assembled Monolayers Enable Robust Inverted Tin-Lead Perovskite Solar Cells
Yating Guo1, Congcong Zhang2, Hongzhuo Wu1
1Key Lab for Special Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center for High-Efficiency Display and Lighting Technology, School of Nanoscience and Materials Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center of Nano Functional Materials and Applications, Henan University, Kaifeng, P. R. China.
Novel ferrocene derivatives function as hole-transport layers in tin-lead perovskite solar cells, enhancing energy alignment and stability. This approach boosts power conversion efficiency and significantly improves device longevity by mitigating chemical defects.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Photovoltaics
- Chemistry
Background:
- Tin-lead (Sn-Pb) perovskites are key for narrow-bandgap perovskite solar cells (PSCs).
- Interfacial issues like energy-level misalignment and chemical instability hinder Sn-Pb PSC performance.
- Sn2+ oxidation leads to trap states and p-type self-doping, degrading device function.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop novel redox-active self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) for functional hole-transport layers (HTLs) in Sn-Pb PSCs.
- To address interfacial energy-level misalignment and chemical instability using ferrocene (FC) derivatives.
- To improve charge extraction and device stability in Sn-Pb PSCs.
Main Methods:
- Synthesized and utilized ferrocene derivatives, ferrocene acetic acid (FCAA) and ferrocene carboxylic acid (FCCA), as SAMs for HTLs.
- Investigated interfacial energetics and chemical defect suppression via redox mediation.
- Evaluated device performance, including power conversion efficiency (PCE) and long-term stability.
Main Results:
- FC-based SAMs demonstrated improved energy level alignment with Sn-Pb perovskite, facilitating efficient hole extraction.
- The reversible FC/FC+ redox process effectively suppressed degradation pathways, inhibiting metallic Pb0 and Sn4+ formation.
- FCAA-based HTLs achieved a champion PCE of 23.8% and maintained 95.8% of their performance after 2000 hours, with reduced oxidized Sn species.
Conclusions:
- Redox-active SAMs based on ferrocene derivatives offer a promising strategy for high-performance Sn-Pb PSCs.
- FCAA-based HTLs provide superior interfacial properties and stability compared to FCCA.
- This work presents a viable pathway towards stable and efficient all-perovskite tandem solar cells.

