Abstract
Perovskite solar cells with an inverted architecture provide a key pathway for commercializing this emerging photovoltaic technology because of the better power conversion efficiency and operational stability compared with the normal device structure. Specifically, power conversion efficiencies of the inverted perovskite solar cells have exceeded 25% owing to the development of improved self-assembled molecules1,2,3,4,5 and passivation strategies6,7,8. However, poor wettability and agglomeration of self-assembled molecules9,10,11,12 cause interfacial losses, impeding further improvement in the power conversion efficiency and stability. Here we report a molecular hybrid at the buried interface in inverted perovskite solar cells that co-assembled the popular self-assembled molecule [4-(3,6-dimethyl-9H-carbazol-9-yl)butyl]phosphonic acid (Me-4PACz) with the multiple aromatic carboxylic acid 4,4′,4″-nitrilotribenzoic acid (NA) to improve the heterojunction interface. The molecular hybrid of Me-4PACz with NA could substantially improve the interfacial characteristics. The resulting inverted perovskite solar cells demonstrated a record certified steady-state efficiency of 26.54%. Crucially, this strategy aligns seamlessly with large-scale manufacturing, achieving one of the highest certified power conversion efficiencies for inverted mini-modules at 22.74% (aperture area 11.1 cm2). Our device also maintained 96.1% of its initial power conversion efficiency after more than 2,400 h of 1-sun operation in ambient air.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the Analytical and Testing Center of HUST for the support of facilities for sample measurements. We thank the Center for Computational Science and Engineering at Southern University of Science and Technology and Hoffmann Institute of Advanced Materials at Shenzhen Polytechnic University for providing the computing resources. We acknowledge the financial support from the National Key Research and Development Project from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2021YFB3800104), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52002140, U20A20252), the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST, the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2022CFA093), the Self-determined and Innovative Research Funds of HUST (2020kfyXJJS008), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2023M731172) and the Innovation Project of Optics Valley Laboratory (OVL2021BG008). H.J.S. thanks the Horizon Europe research and innovation program of the European Union (grant agreement no. 101075330 of the NEXUS project) and the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) (grant no. EP/V010840/1) for the financial support. N.-G.P. acknowledges the financial support from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Korean government (MSIT) under contract NRF-2021R1A3B1076723 (Research Leader Program), NRF-2022M3J1A1085280 (Carbon Neutral Technology Program) and RS-2023-00259096 (GRDC Cooperative Hub).
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W.C., N.-G.P., Z.L. and S. Liu conceived the project; S. Liu, Z.S., R.C. and Y. Zhang fabricated the devices; S. Liu, W.X., Z.S., Y. Zhang, R.C., J.W., F.R., Q.Z. and H.R. carried out the material and device characterizations; S.H. and M.K.-C. conducted the modelling of PLQE dependent on light intensity (two-trap-level SRH model) under the supervision of H.J.S.; S. Li, H.L. and L.Q. carried out the GIXRD measurements; Y.J. and W.H. carried out the GIWAXS measurements; R.C., Y. Zhang, J.W., F.R., Q.Z., H.R., Y.J., W.H. and Y.G. provided suggestions for writing the paper; W.X. performed the DFT calculations under the supervision of Y. Zhao; X.L. performed the DFT calculations under the supervision of J.L. and Y. Zhang; J.L. performed the molecular dynamics simulations and analysed all computational data; S. Liu, J.L., Z.S., R.C., B.X., Z.L. and W.C. analysed all experimental data; and S. Liu, J.L., W.X., R.C., Z.S. and Y. Zhang prepared the paper under the supervision of Z.L., N.-G.P. and W.C. All authors revised and proofread the written paper.
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H.J.S. is a co-founder and the Chief Scientific Officer of Oxford PV, a company commercializing perovskite solar cells.
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Liu, S., Li, J., Xiao, W. et al. Buried interface molecular hybrid for inverted perovskite solar cells. Nature 632, 536–542 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07723-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07723-3