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Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have demonstrated a high power conversion efficiency, however, the large energy loss due to non‐radiative recombination is the main challenge for further performance enhancement. Here, a surface treatment strategy is developed by heat‐induced decomposition of a thin interlayer 2,7‐Naphthaleneditriflate (NAP) to in situ reconstruct perovskite energetics. It is verified that the reconstructed perovskite surface energetics match better with the upper hole transport layer compared to the intrinsic condition. Spontaneous generation of n/n− homojunctions between the perovskite film bulk and the surface region promotes hole extraction, enhancing built‐in electric field, and thus significantly suppresses charge recombination at such perovskite hole‐selective heterojunctions. Moreover, the surface decomposed fluorine‐rich complexes passivate the defects and improve the crystallinity of the perovskite film. These advantages are confirmed by a remarkably improved efficiency from 20.52% for the control device to 23.37% for the treated one with excellent stability. The work provides a promising approach of in situ reconstructing perovskite surface and interface for the design of highly efficient and stable PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) suffer from significant nonradiative recombination at perovskite/charge transport layer heterojunction, seriously limiting their power conversion efficiencies. Herein, solution‐processed chromium multioxide (CrOx) is judiciously selected to construct a MAPbI3/CrOx/Spiro‐OMeTAD hole‐selective heterojunction. It is demonstrated that the inserted CrOx not only effectively reduces defect sites via redox shuttle at perovskite contact, but also decreases valence band maximum (VBM)‐HOMO offset between perovskite and Spiro‐OMeTAD. This will diminish thermionic losses for collecting holes and thus promote charge transport across the heterojunction, suppressing both defect‐assisted recombination and interface carrier recombination. As a result, a remarkable improvement of 21.21% efficiency with excellent device stability is achieved compared to 18.46% of the control device, which is among the highest efficiencies for polycrystalline MAPbI3 based n–i–p planar PSCs reported to date. These findings of this work provide new insights into novel charge‐selective heterojunctions for further enhancing efficiency and stability of PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defect passivation via additive and energetic modification via interface engineering are two effective strategies for achieving high‐performance perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here, the synergies of pentafluorophenyl acrylate when used as additive, in which it not only passivates surface defect states but also simultaneously modifies the energetics at the perovskite/Spiro‐OMeTAD interface to promote charge transport, are shown. The additive‐induced synergy effect significantly suppresses both defect‐assisted recombination and interface carrier recombination, resulting in a device efficiency of 22.42% and an open‐circuit voltage of 1.193 V with excellent device stability. The two photovoltaic parameters are among the highest values for polycrystalline CsFormamidinium/Methylammonium (FAMA)/FAMA based n‐i‐p structural PSCs using low‐cost silver electrodes reported to date. The findings provide a promising approach by choosing the dual functional additive to enhance efficiency and stability of PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defect passivation via additive and energetic modification via interface engineering are two effective strategies for achieving high‐performance perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here, the synergies of pentafluorophenyl acrylate when used as additive, in which it not only passivates surface defect states but also simultaneously modifies the energetics at the perovskite/Spiro‐OMeTAD interface to promote charge transport, are shown. The additive‐induced synergy effect significantly suppresses both defect‐assisted recombination and interface carrier recombination, resulting in a device efficiency of 22.42% and an open‐circuit voltage of 1.193 V with excellent device stability. The two photovoltaic parameters are among the highest values for polycrystalline CsFormamidinium/Methylammonium (FAMA)/FAMA based n‐i‐p structural PSCs using low‐cost silver electrodes reported to date. The findings provide a promising approach by choosing the dual functional additive to enhance efficiency and stability of PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new strategy for designing ternary solar cells is reported in this paper. A low-bandgap polymer named PTB7-Th and a high-bandgap polymer named PBDTTS-FTAZ sharing the same bulk ionization potential and interface positive integer charge transfer energy while featuring complementary absorption spectra are selected. They are used to fabricate efficient ternary solar cells, where the hole can be transported freely between the two donor polymers and collected by the electrode as in one broadband low bandgap polymer. Furthermore, the fullerene acceptor is chosen so that the energy of the positive integer charge transfer state of the two donor polymers is equal to the energy of negative integer charge transfer state of the fullerene, enabling enhanced dissociation of all polymer donor and fullerene acceptor excitons and suppressed bimolecular and trap assistant recombination. The two donor polymers feature good miscibility and energy transfer from high-bandgap polymer of PBDTTS-FTAZ to low-bandgap polymer of PTB7-Th, which contribute to enhanced performance of the ternary solar cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The color of polymer solar cells using an opaque electrode is given by the reflected light, which depends on the composition and thickness of each layer of the device. Metal-oxide-based optical spacers are intensively studied in polymer solar cells aiming to optimize the light absorption. However, the low conductivity of materials such as ZnO and TiO2 limits the thickness of such optical spacers to tenths of nanometers. A novel synthesis route of cluster-free Al-doped ZnO (AZO) nanocrystals (NCs) is presented for solution processing of highly conductive layers without the need of temperature annealing, including thick optical spacers on top of polymer blends. The processing of 80 nm thick optical spacers based on AZO nanocrystal solutions on top of 200 nm thick polymer blend layer is demonstrated leading to improved photocurrent density of 17% compared to solar cells using standard active layers of 90 nm in combination with thin ZnO-based optical spacers. These AZO NCs also open new opportunities for the processing of high-efficiency color tuned solar cells. For the first time, it is shown that applying solution-processed thick optical spacer with polymer blends of different thicknesses can process solar cells of similar efficiency over 7% but of different colors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cathode interface plays a critical role in achieving high‐performance fullerene/perovskite planar solar cells. Herein, the simple molecule Isatin and its derivatives are introduced at the back contact [6,6]‐phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM)/Al as a cathode modification interlayer. It is revealed that the Isatin interlayers facilitate electron transport/extraction and suppress electron recombination, attributed to the formation of negative dipole potential steps and the passivation of the interfacial trap density. The average power conversion efficiencies of the resulting devices are significantly improved by 11% from 17.68% to 19.74%, with an enhancement in all device parameters including short‐circuit current, open‐circuit voltage, and fill factor. The hysteresis index is found to disappear. In addition, such interlayer enhances device stability under ambient conditions compared to the control devices due to suppression of moisture‐induced degradation of the perovskite films. These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the engineering of the back contact between PCBM and the metal electrode to improve efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]