Synergistic Effects of Bipolar Additives on Grain Boundary-Mediated Charge Transport for Efficient Carbon-Based Inorganic Perovskite Solar Cells

Carbon-based all-inorganic CsPbIxBr3-x perovskite solar cells offer high stability against heat and humidity and a suitable band gap for tandem and semitransparent photovoltaics. In CsPbIxBr3-x perovskite films, the defects at grain boundaries (GBs) cause charge trapping, reducing the efficiency of the cell. Electronic deactivation of GB has been a conventional strategy to suppress the trapping, but at the cost of charge carrier transport through the boundaries. Here, we turn the GBs into benign charge transport pathways with the aid of bipolar charge transport semiconductors, namely, Ti3C2TX (MXene) and Spiro-OMeTAD, respectively. Thanks to the synergistic effects of both n-and p-type transport media, the charge transport is improved and balanced at the GBs. As a result, the cells achieve an efficiency of 12.7%, the highest among all low-temperature-processed carbon-based inorganic perovskite solar cells. Benign GBs also lead to enhanced light and aging stabilities. Our work demonstrates a proof-of-concept strategy of benign electronic modulation of GBs for solution-processed perovskite solar cells.

Automated summary

Carbon-based all-inorganic CsPbIxBr3-x perovskite solar cells show high stability and suitable band gap. Defects at grain boundaries (GBs) reduce the efficiency of the cell. This study turns the GBs into charge transport pathways using bipolar charge transport semiconductors, improving charge transport and balance at the GBs, resulting in high efficiency and enhanced stability.