Promoting Large-Area Slot-Die-Coated Perovskite Solar Cell Performance and Reproducibility by Acid-Based Sulfono-γ-AApeptide
Seid Yimer Abate, Ziqi Yang, Surabhi Jha, Jada Emodogo, Guorong Ma, Zhongliang Ouyang, Shafi Muhammad, Nihar Pradhan, Xiaodan Gu, Derek L. Patton, Dawen Li, Jianfeng Cai, Qilin Dai
Abstract
Homogeneous and pinhole-free large-area perovskite films are required to realize the commercialization of perovskite modules and panels. Various large-area perovskite coatings were developed; however, at their film coating and drying stages, many defects were formed on the perovskite surface. Consequently, not only the devices lost substantial performance but also their long-term stability deteriorated. Here, we fabricated a compact and uniform large-area MAPbI 3 -perovskite film by a slot-die coater at room temperature ( T ) and at high relative humidity (RH) up to 40%. The control slot-die-coated perovskite solar cell (PSC) produced 1.082 V open-circuit voltage ( V oc ), 24.09 mA cm –2 short current density ( J sc ), 71.13% fill factor (FF), and a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.54%. We systematically employed a multi-functional artificial amino acid (F-LYS-S) to modify the perovskite defects. Such amino acids are more inclined to bind and adhere to the perovskite defects. The amino, carbonyl, and carboxy functional groups of F-LYS-S interacted with MAPbI 3 through Lewis acid–base interaction and modified iodine vacancies significantly. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed that the C═O group of F-LYS-S interacted with the uncoordinated Pb 2+ ions, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the lone pair of −NH 2 coordinated with the uncoordinated Pb 2+ and consequently modified the I – vacancies remarkably. As a result, the F-LYS-S-modified device demonstrated more than three-fold charge recombination resistance, which is one of the primary requirements to fabricate high-performance PSCs. Therefore, the device fabricated employing F-LYS-S demonstrated remarkable PCE of 21.08% with superior photovoltaic parameters of 1.104 V V oc, 24.80 mA cm –2 J sc, and 77.00%. FF. Concurrently, the long-term stability of the PSCs was improved by the F-LYS-S post-treatment, where the modified device retained ca. 89.6% of its initial efficiency after storing for 720 h in air ( T ∼ 27 °C and RH ∼ 50–60%).