Surface regulation with polymerized small molecular acceptor towards efficient inverted perovskite solar cells

Abstract

Optimizing the interface between the perovskite and transport layers is an efficient approach to promote the photovoltaic performance of inverted perovskite solar cells (IPSCs). Given decades of advances in bulk materials optimization, the performance of IPSCs has been pushed to its limits by interface engineering with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) over 25% and excellent stability. Herein, an n-type polymeric semiconducting material, PY-IT, that has shown remarkable performance in organic photovoltaics, is introduced as an interface regulator between perovskite and ETL. Encouragingly, this polymerized small molecular acceptor (PSMA) exhibits significant effectiveness in both passivation defects and electron transfer facilitation properties with the merits of strong planarity and rotatable linkers, which significantly optimizes perovskite grain growth orientation and added charge transport channels. As a result, the PSMA-treated IPSC devices obtain an optimal efficiency of 23.57% with a fill factor of 84%, among the highest efficiency among PSMA-based IPSCs. Meanwhile, the photo-stability of PSMA devices is eye-catching, maintaining ≈80% of its initial PCE after 1000 h of simulated 1-sun illumination under maximal power point tracking. This work combines the achievements of polymer science and IPSC device engineering to provide a new insight into interface regulation of efficient and stable devices.