Toward stable lead halide perovskite solar cells: A knob on the A/X sites components

Cl alloying improves thermal stability and increases luminescence in iodine-rich inorganic perovskites

The inorganic perovskite CsPbI3 shows promising photophysical properties for a range of potential optoelectronic applications but is metastable at room temperature. To address this, Br can be alloyed into the X-site to create compositions such as CsPbI2Br that are stable at room temperature but have bandgaps >1.9 eV - severely limiting solar applications. Herein, in an effort to achieve phase stable films with bandgaps <1.85 eV, we investigate alloying chlorine into iodine-rich triple-halide CsPb(I0.8Br0.2-x Cl x )3 with 0 < x < 0.1. We show that partial substitution of iodine with bromine and chlorine provides a path to maintain broadband terrestrial absorption while improving upon the perovskite phase stability due to chlorine's smaller size and larger ionization potential than bromine. At moderate Cl loading up to ≈5%, X-ray diffraction reveals an increasingly smaller orthorhombic unit cell, suggesting chlorine incorporation into the lattice. Most notably, this Cl incorporation is accompanied by a significant enhancement over Cl-free controls in the duration of black-phase stability of up to 7× at elevated temperatures. Additionally, we observe up to 5× increased steady state photoluminescence intensity (PL), along with a small blue-shift. In contrast, at high loading (≈10%), Cl accumulates in a second phase that is visible at grain boundaries via synchrotron fluorescence microscopy and negatively impacts the perovskite phase stability. Thus, replacing small fractions of bromine for chlorine in the iodine-rich inorganic perovskite lattice results in distinct improvement thermal stability and optoelectronic quality while minimally impacting the bandgap.

Dopant-additive synergism enhances perovskite solar modules

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are among the most promising photovoltaic technologies owing to their exceptional optoelectronic properties1,2. However, the lower efficiency, poor stability and reproducibility issues of large-area PSCs compared with laboratory-scale PSCs are notable drawbacks that hinder their commercialization3. Here we report a synergistic dopant-additive combination strategy using methylammonium chloride (MACl) as the dopant and a Lewis-basic ionic-liquid additive, 1,3-bis(cyanomethyl)imidazolium chloride ([Bcmim]Cl). This strategy effectively inhibits the degradation of the perovskite precursor solution (PPS), suppresses the aggregation of MACl and results in phase-homogeneous and stable perovskite films with high crystallinity and fewer defects. This approach enabled the fabrication of perovskite solar modules (PSMs) that achieved a certified efficiency of 23.30% and ultimately stabilized at 22.97% over a 27.22-cm2 aperture area, marking the highest certified PSM performance. Furthermore, the PSMs showed long-term operational stability, maintaining 94.66% of the initial efficiency after 1,000 h under continuous one-sun illumination at room temperature. The interaction between [Bcmim]Cl and MACl was extensively studied to unravel the mechanism leading to an enhancement of device properties. Our approach holds substantial promise for bridging the benchtop-to-rooftop gap and advancing the production and commercialization of large-area perovskite photovoltaics.

A Comprehensive Review on Perovskite Solar Cells Integrated Photo-supercapacitors and Perovskites-Based Electrochemical Supercapacitors

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have rapidly become a prevalent photovoltaic technology owing to their simple structure, low processing cost, and remarkable increase in solar-to-electric power conversion efficiency (PCE). However, the intermittent nature of solar radiation induces some technical and financial challenges for its practical applications as a reliable power source. To address this issue, the integration of PSCs with supercapacitors (SCs) in the form of integrated photo-supercapacitors (IPSs) has gathered significant attention. This integration can balance energy availability and demand, reduce energy wastage, and stabilize power output for portable and wearable electronics. Meanwhile, the excellent optoelectronic properties with mixed electronic and ionic conductivity of metal halide perovskites (MHPs) have expanded their application as electrode and electrolyte materials for SCs and photo-supercapacitors (PSs) applications. This review provides an all-inclusive summary of the current state-of-the-art research progress of PSCs-IPSs and MHPs-based SCs and PSs by highlighting their basics and integration approaches. It also discusses the challenges and prospects of these materials and technologies.

Strategic Compositional Engineering in Quasi-2D Ruddlesden-Popper Perovskites to Decipher Deep Blue Emission

Perovskites have achieved immense progression in optoelectronic device applications owing to their fascinating intrinsic properties. However, the integration of perovskites in lighting applications has been retarded due to the challenges involved in achieving their deep blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Unlike other color counterparts, obtaining a stable, defect-tolerant, and high-band gap perovskite material for deep blue emission is an arduous task. Moreover, the ambient stability and efficient charge injection in the device are bottlenecks for the established perovskite emissive materials. Among all the dimensional perovskite counterparts, quasi-two-dimensional perovskites (Q2DPes) with hydrophobic ligands can exhibit better stability, and also, facile tunability of the properties can overcome the associated challenges. In this paper, for the first time, we demonstrate Ruddlesden-Popper-based Q2DPes that are pure deep blue emissive in the 450 nm region, stable, and can facilitate decent charge injection in LEDs. We have also demonstrated systematic modulations in the properties of the material, concerning the organic cation concentration.

A Complete Picture of Cation Dynamics in Hybrid Perovskite Materials from Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy

The organic cations in hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites rotate rapidly inside the cuboctahedral cavities formed by the inorganic lattice, influencing optoelectronic properties. Here, we provide a complete quantitative picture of cation dynamics for formamidinium-based perovskites and mixed-cation compositions, which are the most widely used and promising absorber layers for perovskite solar cells today. We use ²H and ¹⁴N quadrupolar solid-state NMR relaxometry under magic-angle spinning to determine the activation energy (E_a) and correlation time (τ_c) at room temperature for rotation about each principal axis of a series of organic cations. Specifically, we investigate methylammonium (MA⁺), formamidinium (FA⁺), and guanidinium (GUA⁺) cations in current state-of-the-art single- and multi-cation perovskite compositions. We find that MA⁺, FA⁺, and GUA⁺ all have at least one component of rotation that occurs on the picosecond timescale at room temperature, with MA⁺ and GUA⁺ also exhibiting faster and slower components, respectively. The cation dynamics depend on the symmetry of the inorganic lattice but are found to be insensitive to the degree of cation substitution. In particular, the FA⁺ rotation is invariant across all compositions studied here, when sufficiently above the phase transition temperature. We further identify an unusual relaxation mechanism for the ²H of MA⁺ in mechanosynthesized FA_xMA_1-xPbI₃, which was found to result from physical diffusion to paramagnetic defects. This precise picture of cation dynamics will enable better understanding of the relationship between the organic cations and the optoelectronic properties of perovskites, guiding the design principles for more efficient perovskite solar cells in the future.