Compacting Molecular Stacking and Inhibiting Self‐Aggregation in Fullerene Transporting Layer for Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells

The underdevelopment of electron transport layer (ETL) materials remains a critical bottleneck limiting the overall photovoltaic performance of inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Fullerene derivatives, such as PCBM, are widely employed ETL materials in PSCs due to their excellent electron affinity and energy level alignment with the perovskite layer. However, PCBM suffers from high energy disorder, self-aggregation predilection, and insufficient defect passivation ability, leading to significant charge carrier recombination and accumulation at interfaces. Herein, a phosphate-substituted fullerene derivative, FuPE, is developed to enhance the performance of PCBM-based ETLs for PSCs. Incorporating FuPE efficiently compacts molecular stacking, enforces crystallinity and intermolecular interaction, suppresses self-aggregation, and improves interfacial compatibility of the FuPE:PCBM blend. Such endows the FuPE:PCBM blend film with enhanced electron mobility (0.183 cm<sup>2</sup> V<sup>-1</sup> s<sup>-1</sup>), lower trap density, more uniform film morphology, and superior defect-passivation ability, compared to the PCBM pristine one. Consequently, PSCs employing FuPE:PCBM as the ETL achieve reduced trap-assisted recombination, enhanced charge carrier extraction, and thus a remarkable power conversion efficiency exceeding 26% alongside improved operational stability. This work highlights an effective strategy for optimizing fullerene-based ETLs, advancing the development of highly efficient and durable PSCs.

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Publication Details

Journal
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Published
2025-03-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202502950
Citations
15
Primary Topic
Perovskite Materials and Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
10.96
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article

Compacting Molecular Stacking and Inhibiting Self‐Aggregation in Fullerene Transporting Layer for Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells

Chaoyi Yao, Xiaohan Ma, Fuwen Zhao, Xiangcai Ruan et al.
15 citations
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Perovskite Materials and Applications
10.96
article

Compacting Molecular Stacking and Inhibiting Self‐Aggregation in Fullerene Transporting Layer for Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells

Chaoyi Yao, Xiaohan Ma, Fuwen Zhao, Xiangcai Ruan, Jin‐Song Hu, Xingxing Shen, Jianqi Zhang, Jiahao Zhang, Minghua Li, Chunru Wang, Xueyuan Gong, Dan He
article en
15 citations

Abstract

The underdevelopment of electron transport layer (ETL) materials remains a critical bottleneck limiting the overall photovoltaic performance of inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Fullerene derivatives, such as PCBM, are widely employed ETL materials in PSCs due to their excellent electron affinity and energy level alignment with the perovskite layer. However, PCBM suffers from high energy disorder, self-aggregation predilection, and insufficient defect passivation ability, leading to significant charge carrier recombination and accumulation at interfaces. Herein, a phosphate-substituted fullerene derivative, FuPE, is developed to enhance the performance of PCBM-based ETLs for PSCs. Incorporating FuPE efficiently compacts molecular stacking, enforces crystallinity and intermolecular interaction, suppresses self-aggregation, and improves interfacial compatibility of the FuPE:PCBM blend. Such endows the FuPE:PCBM blend film with enhanced electron mobility (0.183 cm<sup>2</sup> V<sup>-1</sup> s<sup>-1</sup>), lower trap density, more uniform film morphology, and superior defect-passivation ability, compared to the PCBM pristine one. Consequently, PSCs employing FuPE:PCBM as the ETL achieve reduced trap-assisted recombination, enhanced charge carrier extraction, and thus a remarkable power conversion efficiency exceeding 26% alongside improved operational stability. This work highlights an effective strategy for optimizing fullerene-based ETLs, advancing the development of highly efficient and durable PSCs.

Angewandte Chemie International EditionVol. 64(22)
Central South University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (CN), National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (CN), State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology (CN), Beijing University of Chemical Technology (CN)
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Perovskite Materials and Applications
10.96
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