Dual Additive for Simultaneous Improvement of Photovoltaic Performance and Stability of Perovskite Solar Cell

Additive engineering is one of the most efficient approaches to improve not only photovoltaic performance but also phase stability of formamidinium (FA)-based perovskite. Chlorine-based additives, such as methylammonium chloride (MACl), have been in general used to improve phase stability of FAPbI(3), which however often leads to loss of open-circuit voltage V-oc, accompanied by instability of the perovskite phase due to the volatile nature of the MA cation. A dual additive strategy for improving V-oc and thereby the overall efficiency are reported here. The mixing ratio of MACl to CsCl is varied from [MACl]/[CsCl] = 4 to 1, where V-oc increases with decreasing the ratio and best performance is achieved from [MACl]/[CsCl] = 2. As compared to the single source of MACl, the addition of CsCl reduces trap density and increases resistance against charge recombination, which is responsible for the increased V-oc. Moreover, defect passivation achieved by dual additive enables better stability than the single additive MACl as confirmed by long-term stability tests with unencapsulated devices for 50 days under relative humidity of about 40% at room temperature. The best power conversion efficiency of 23.22% is achieved by dual additive, which is higher than that for single additive of MACl or CsCl.

Automated summary

Additive engineering is an efficient approach for improving photovoltaic performance and phase stability of formamidinium-based perovskite, with a dual additive strategy of mixing MACl and CsCl proving successful in enhancing open-circuit voltage Voc, reducing trap density, and increasing resistance against charge recombination. The best power conversion efficiency achieved with the dual additive is 23.22%, outperforming single additive strategies using MACl or CsCl.