Mentoring Juniors on Crafting a Bidentate Passivator for Carbon-Based Perovskite Solar Cells Using Thiourea as a Thiol Precursor

The incorporation of “new energy” education into university curricula not only substantially augments the students’ knowledge spectrum but also subtly fosters their practical abilities and innovative thought processes. As undergraduate students majoring in chemistry, we embarked on a distinctive journey by actively engaging in research on perovskite solar cells, specifically through the design and synthesis of chemical passivation agents. Under the guidance of the advanced concept of efficient coordination in a bidentate mode, we ingeniously substituted chlorine atoms on the 6-chloropurine scaffold with thiourea as a precursor, culminating in the successful synthesis of 6-mercaptopurine. Subsequently, we mentored students in assembling printable mesoscopic perovskite solar cells, utilizing the synthesized 6-mercaptopurine as a passivation agent to rectify defects associated with halide vacancies (i.e., uncoordinated lead ions) within the perovskite crystal. Building on these principles, we devised a comprehensive laboratory course for third-year undergraduates, encompassing the synthesis of passivation agents, assembly of perovskite solar cells, defect rectification, and characterization of photoelectric properties. This approach not only expanded their knowledge horizons but also nurtured scientific thinking and spurred ongoing exploration and innovation in practical applications.