Investigation on the Mechanism of Radical Intermediate Formation and Moderate Oxidation of Spiro-OMeTAD by the Synergistic Effect of Multisubstituted Polyoxometalates in Perovskite Solar Cells
Boyuan Hu, Jian Zhang, Yulin Yang, Jiaqi Wang, Wei Wang, Jiao Li, Shihui Liu, Debin Xia, Kaifeng Lin, Yayu Dong, Ruiqing Fan
Abstract
Conventional oxidation of 2,2′,7,7′-tetrakis[N,N-di(4-methoxyphenyl)amino]-9,9′-spirobifluorene (Spiro-OMeTAD) by air would bring various drawbacks for perovskite solar cells (PSCs), such as low power conversion efficiency (PCE) and poor stability. Here, a series of heteroatom-substituted Keggin-type polyoxometalates (POMs), H4PMo11VO40 (PMo11V), H5PMo10V2O40 (PMo10V2), and H6PMo9V3O40 (PMo9V3) are prepared and applied as p-type dopants to realize quantitative and controllable oxidation of Spiro-OMeTAD under an inert condition. The possible mechanism and electron donor regions in the oxidation of Spiro-OMeTAD are investigated using two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra and the relationship between POM structures and the oxidation degree of Spiro-OMeTAD is proposed. In addition, the synergistic effect of heteroatoms makes V2-substituted PMo10V2 exhibit appropriate oxidation of Spiro-OMeTAD and promoted the highest efficient hole extraction as well as the decreased charge recombination. Therefore, the champion device doped with PMo10V2 shows a PCE of 20.41% and a superior open circuit voltage (Voc) of 1.133 V, surpassing that of the pristine device (18.61%). This work presents a fresh perspective to the controllable oxidation of Spiro-OMeTAD employing economical inorganic POM dopants, which would promote the commercialization of PSCs.