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Defect passivation in perovskite films by p-methoxy phenylacetonitrile for improved device efficiency and stability

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Abstract

The certification efficiency of halide perovskite solar cell is as high as 25.7%, which is one of the most efficient solar cells at present. However, the defects in the halide perovskite including grain boundary, interface defects, and ionic defects often act as nonradiative composite sites, which lead to rapid degradation of halide perovskite films, deteriorate the performance of perovskite devices, and lead to instability. In this work, a suitable multifunctional molecule additive p-methoxy phenylacetonitrile (pMP) is selected to improve the film and device stability. Specifically, pMP delays the crystallization rate of halide perovskite and promotes the formation of high-quality large grain halide perovskite films, and C≡N in pMP forms a coordination bond with Pb2+ and passivates the uncoordinated Pb2+ defects. Moreover, the π bonds increase electron transport. In addition, the methoxy group in pMP forms an effective barrier on halide perovskite to enhance its water stability. With the influence of the comprehensive effect of these factors of pMP, the PSC with pMP additive achieved the highest efficiency of 21.26% and significantly improved the stability of moisture resistance.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in the supporting information.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Research Center of Analysis and Test, Henan University, for measurements.

Funding

This work was supported by Princess Nourah bint Abdularahman University Researchers Supporting Project (No. PNURSP2023R18), Princess Nourah bint Abdularahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Science and technology breakthrough plan project of Henan province (No. 232102241013), China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Photovoltaic Materials, Henan University, Kaifeng, 475004, Henan, China

    Jianyao Tang, Shenghan Wu, Handong Li, **aohui Li, Putao Zhang & Shengjun Li

  2. Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, 11671, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Najla AlMasoud & Taghrid S. Alomar

  3. Department of Chemistry and Physics, University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff, AR, 71601, USA

    Priyanka Wasnik, Junna Ren & Qinglong Jiang

  4. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City 11884, Cairo, Egypt

    Zeinhom M. El-Bahy

  5. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China

    Junna Ren

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  1. Jianyao Tang
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Contributions

Jianyao Tang performed the research and wrote the paper. Shenghan Wu analyzed the data. Putao Zhang and Shengjun Li conceived the idea of the study. **aohui Li interpreted the results. Qinglong Jiang, Najla AlMasoud, Taghrid S. Alomar, and Zeinhom M. El-Bahy revised the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Putao Zhang, Shengjun Li or Qinglong Jiang.

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Tang, J., Wu, S., AlMasoud, N. et al. Defect passivation in perovskite films by p-methoxy phenylacetonitrile for improved device efficiency and stability. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 6, 155 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-023-00732-2

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