Multifunctional Chemical Linker Imidazoleacetic Acid Hydrochloride for 21% Efficient and Stable Planar Perovskite Solar Cells
10.1002/adma.201902902
The study investigates the use of 4-imidazoleacetic acid hydrochloride (ImAcHCl) as a multifunctional chemical linker to enhance the performance and stability of planar perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with SnO? as the electron transport material. ImAcHCl forms an ester bond with SnO? via esterification reaction and interacts with the perovskite layer through electrostatic interaction between the imidazolium cation in ImAcHCl and the iodide anion in the perovskite. The chloride anion in ImAcHCl also improves the crystallinity of the perovskite film. The introduction of ImAcHCl realigns the positions of the conduction and valence bands upwards, reduces nonradiative recombination, and improves carrier lifetime. As a result, the average power conversion efficiency (PCE) increases from 18.60% ± 0.50% to 20.22% ± 0.34%, with the best PCE reaching 21%. Additionally, the ImAcHCl-modified PSCs exhibit better thermal and moisture stability compared to unmodified ones.