Solubilizing and stabilizing C60 with n-type polymer enables efficient inverted perovskite solar cells
<h2>Summary</h2> Pristine fullerene C<sub>60</sub> is currently the best-performing electron transport layer (ETL) for perovskite solar cells (PSCs) but suffers from significant aggregation in solution. Consequently, the high-cost and complex thermal evaporation method is typically used to deposit high-quality C<sub>60</sub> ETLs. To address this challenge, we introduce an n-type polymeric additive that can solubilize and stabilize C<sub>60</sub> molecules for solution processing, leading to efficient and stable solution-processed-C<sub>60</sub> (SP-C<sub>60</sub>) ETLs. The achievement is attributed to the well-matched properties of the n-type polymer and the precisely controlled intermolecular interactions between the polymer and C<sub>60</sub>. As a result, the SP-C<sub>60</sub> ETL with 5-wt % polymer addition afforded a champion power conversion efficiency of 25.60% (certified 25.09%). This is not only the highest performance among the current SP-C<sub>60</sub> devices but also highly competitive to the state-of-the-art thermally evaporated C<sub>60</sub> devices. Importantly, the champion device showed significantly enhanced stability (<i>T</i><sub>95, light</sub> > 1,800 h; <i>T</i><sub>80, heat</sub> = 700 h).
Authors
- Fahad Al‐Amri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6132-9043)
- G. Pozzi
- Hiroyuki Kanda (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0327-8775)
- Bin‐Wen Chen
- Jianxing Xia
- Qiufeng Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0166-2140)
- Suxiang Ma
- Xugang Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6193-637X)
- Lin‐Long Deng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8588-1825)
- Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5955-4786)
- Ajuan Fan
- Yi Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5710-3404)
- Xiayi Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2731-5649)
- Zhou Xing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4238-1203)
- Jiazhen Wu
- Mingwei An (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6200-3616)
- Yang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5160-4391)
Institutions
- Fujian Normal University (CN)
- Tianjin University (CN)
- Southern University of Science and Technology (CN)
- Institute of Molecular Science and Technologies (IT)
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (CN)
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
- Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (SA)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Joule
- Published
- 2025-02-05
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2024.101817
- Citations
- 38
- Primary Topic
- Perovskite Materials and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 27.76
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province
- Department of Education, Fujian Province
- Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province
- Fujian Normal University
- Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality
- Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China