Recently, Assistant Professor Chen Gang’s group at SPST published their research in Nano Letters, ‘A New Organic Interlayer Spacer for Stable and Efficient 2D Ruddlesden−Popper Perovskite Solar Cells.’
2D perovskite, which blends an organic interlayer spacer within the 3D perovskite matrix, promises great possibilities towards the fabrication of highly efficient and stable solar cell devices. The organic interlayer spacer based on long chain organic molecules simultaneously acts as ‘barriers’ against penetration of water and heat, as well as ‘passivation agents’ to reduce defects in the bulk perovskite. The structural versatility of 2D perovskites, originating from the wide choice of organic interlayer spacers, could provide great opportunities for screening 2D perovskite materials with outstanding optoelectronic properties and directing further device performance enhancement.
In this study, the researchers introduced a new quaternary ammonium-based organic interlayer spacer, phenyltrimethylammonium (PTA+), to prepare the Ruddlesden-Popper type 2D perovskite films. Through careful additive engineering with Cl- ions, high quality 2D perovskite films were prepared with vertically aligned crystal orientation, large grain size, pinhole free morphology and suitable energy levels. The solar cell devices based on the optimized 2D perovskite films delivered a high power conversion efficiency up to 11.53% with remarkable stability. The promising performance of the PTA based perovskite material opened up a new avenue for the search of new 2D perovskite species for wide optoelectronic applications.
The study is financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality and ShanghaiTech start-up funding. The authors thank all of the team members at beamline BL14B1 of SSRF.
Read more at: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b01652.
Schematic illustration of PTA and the corresponding 2D perovskite