Dopamine-crosslinked TiO2/perovskite layer for efficient and photostable perovskite solar cells under full spectral continuous illumination.

Abstract Even though TiO 2 is the most widely used electron transport layer (ETL) in high-efficiency perovskite solar cells (PSCs), ultraviolet photocatalysis and existence of intrinsic oxygen vacancies result in interfacial charge recombination and poor long-term photo-stability for TiO 2 -based PSCs under full spectral continuous illumination. To solve the issues, here we report dopamine-capped TiO 2 nanoparticles as ETL via chelating effect to improve interfacial binding with perovskite active layer. The introduction of dopamine can substantially reduce oxygen vacancies and suppress deep trap states within TiO 2. In addition, the terminal amino groups in dopamine can passivate the uncoordinated Pb atoms and decrease the Pb-I/Br antisite defects on the interface of perovskite/TiO 2. As an interfacial crosslinking agent, dopamine can not only reduce charge-accumulation and charge-recombination rate, but also increase charge-extraction efficiency at the TiO 2 and perovskite interface. Based on the dopamine-capped TiO 2 nanoparticles surface, the corresponding planner Cs 0.05 FA 0.81 MA 0.14 PbI 2.55 Br 0.45 PSCs deliver a power conversion efficiency of nearly 21% with negligible hysteresis. Moreover, unencapsulated devices retain 80% of their initial performance after 1200 h operation under constant full-sun illumination in nitrogen atmosphere. Ideally, this chemical-bath-deposited dopamine-modified TiO 2 provides an effective commercialized route for efficient and photostable planar PSCs. Graphical abstract fx1 Highlights • Dopamine-capped TiO 2 is obtained via sub-150 °C solution-processed method. • Defects of TiO 2 are decreased via chelating effect of dopamine. • Dopamine can effectively crosslink perovskite/TiO 2 interface. • Dopamine leads to a PCE of 20.93% with negligible hysteresis. • PSC retains ~80% of its performance under continuous 1200 h full spectral illumination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]