Thiol Groups Reutilization on Chemical Bath Deposited Tin Oxide Surface Achieving Interface Anchoring and Defects Passivation for Enhancing the Performance and Stability of Perovskite Solar Cells

Small. 2024 Nov 25:e2408516. doi: 10.1002/smll.202408516. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Due to its simple process and adaptability to large-area deposition, chemical bath deposition (CBD) is one of the preparation methods for the SnO2 layer in highly efficient "n-i-p" structured perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, the residual thioglycolic acid (TGA) on the CBD-SnO2 surface affects the stability of PSCs and the carrier transport at the CBD-SnO2/perovskite interface, hindering the further development of this method. This work demonstrates a method for the reutilization of surface groups to construct molecular bridges. This strategy utilizes the substitution reaction between the residual thiol group on the CBD-SnO2 surface and the iodine group of iodoacetamide (IAM) to form the IAM structure. The IAM structure not only assists the perovskite grain crystallization but also increases the electronic cloud density of the CBD-SnO2 surface. Consequently, the charge mobility of the CBD-SnO2 is enhanced and the energy band alignment at the CBD-SnO2/perovskite interface is optimized. A champion device with the IAM structure achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 22.41% while it maintained 80% of its original PCE after placing at 65 °C in nitrogen filled atmosphere for over 300 h and in an environment at 25 °C and 50 ± 5% relative humidity for over 1000 h, respectively.

Keywords: chemical bath deposition; iodoacetamide; molecular bridge; perovskite solar cells; tin oxide.