Antisolvent-Assisted In Situ Cation Exchange of Perovskite Quantum Dots for Efficient Solar Cells

Cesium-formamidinium lead iodide perovskite quantum dots (FA(x)Cs(1-)(x)PbI(3) PQDs) show high potential for next-generation photovoltaics due to their outstanding optoelectronic properties. However, achieving composition-tunable hybrid PQDs with desirable charge transport remains a significant challenge. Herein, by leveraging an antisolvent-assisted in situ cation exchange of PQDs, homogeneous FA(x)Cs(1-)(x)PbI(3) PQDs with controllable stoichiometries and surface ligand chemistry are realized. Meanwhile, the crystallographic stability of PQDs is substantially improved by substituting the cations of the PQDs mediated by surface vacancies. Consequently, PQD solar cell delivers an efficiency of 17.29%, the highest value among the homostructured PQD solar cells. The high photovoltaic performance is attributed to the broadened light harvesting spectra, flattened energy landscape, and rationalized energy levels of highly oriented PQD solids, leading to efficient charge carrier extraction. This work provides a feasible approach for the stoichiometry regulation of PQDs to finely tailor the optoelectronic properties and tolerance factors of PQDs toward high-performing photovoltaics.

Automated summary

Uniform FA(x)Cs(1-)(x)PbI(3) perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) with controllable stoichiometry and surface ligand chemistry are prepared by antisolvent-assisted in situ cation exchange. This work provides a feasible approach for finely tailoring the optoelectronic properties and tolerance factors of PQDs towards high-performing photovoltaics.