A Porphyrin-Involved Benzene-1,3,5-Tricarboxamide Dendrimer (Por-BTA) as a Multifunctional Interface Material for Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells

Surface defects of perovskite films are the major sources of nonradiative recombination which limit the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells. Surface passivation represents one of the most efficient strategies to solve this problem. Herein, for the first time we designed a porphyrin-involved benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide dendrimer (Por-BTA) as a multifunctional interface material between the interface of the perovskite and the hole-transporting layer (spiro-OMeTAD) for the surface passivation of perovskite films. The results suggested that Por-BTA not only efficiently passivated the perovskite surface defects via the coordination of the exposed Pb2+ with the carbonyl unit and basic sites of pyrrole units in Por-BTA but also improved the interface contact and the charge transfer between the perovskite and spiro-OMeTAD ascribed to the strong intermolecular p-p stacking of Por-BTA. It was shown that the PSC devices with the Por-BTA treatment exhibited improved power conversion efficiency with the champion of 22.30% achieved (21.30% for the control devices), which is mainly attributed to the increased short-circuit current density and fill factor. Interestingly, the stability of moisture for the Por-BTA-treated device was also enhanced compared to those without the Por-BTA treatment. This work presents a promising direction toward the design of multifunctional organic molecules as the interface materials to improve the cell performance of PSCs.

Automated summary

Surface defects in perovskite films are a major obstacle to the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells due to nonradiative recombination. The use of Por-BTA as an interface material effectively passivates these defects, improving interface contact and charge transfer. PSC devices treated with Por-BTA show increased power conversion efficiency, improved stability, and enhanced performance, indicating a promising direction for the design of organic molecules in PSCs.