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Homogeneous coverage of the low-dimensional perovskite passivation layer for formamidinium–caesium perovskite solar modules

Nature Energy volume 9, pages 1540–1550 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

The formation of a homogeneous passivation layer based on phase-pure two-dimensional (2D) perovskites is a challenge for perovskite solar cells, especially when upscaling the devices to modules. Here we reveal a chain-length-dependent and halide-related phase separation problem of 2D perovskite growing on top of three-dimensional perovskites. We demonstrate that a homogeneous 2D perovskite passivation layer can be formed upon treatment of the perovskite layer with formamidinium bromide in long-chain ( >10) alkylamine ligand salts. We achieve champion active-area efficiencies of 25.61%, 24.62% and 23.60% for antisolvent-free processed small- (0.14 cm2) and large-size (1.04 cm2) devices and mini-modules (13.44 cm2), respectively. This passivation strategy is compatible with printing technology, enabling champion aperture-area efficiencies of 18.90% and 17.59% for fully slot-die printed large solar modules with areas of 310 cm2 and 802 cm2, respectively, demonstrating the feasibility of the upscaling manufacturing.

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Fig. 1: Compositional engineering of the 2D perovskite phase for scalable solar modules.
Fig. 2: Growth kinetics and formation mechanism of the homogeneous 2D phase structure.
Fig. 3: Homogeneous surface morphology and defect passivation.
Fig. 4: Photovoltaic performance and stability characterization.
Fig. 5: Scalable printed large-area modules.

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Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the published article and its Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with this paper.

Code availability

The code used in this Article is available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funding from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant number 2020YFA0715000, L.M.), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52322315, T.B.; 22279099, T.B.; 52172230, F.H.), the Guangdong Pearl River Talent Program (2021ZT09L400, Y.-B.C.) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (WUT: 2023IVB074, T.B.). P.M.-B. acknowledges support from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy-EXC 2089/1-390776260 (e-conversion). In addition, the ETSC Technologies are acknowledged for the time-resolved confocal photoluminescence mapping characterization.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Jing Li, Chengkai Jin.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China

    Jing Li, Chengkai Jin, Ruixuan Jiang, Jiashen Meng, Zongkui Kou, Fuzhi Huang, Liqiang Mai, Yi-Bing Cheng & Tongle Bu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Devices and Integrated Technology, School of Microelectronics, Xidian University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China

    Jie Su

  3. TUM School of Natural Sciences, Department of Physics, Chair for Functional Materials, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany

    Ting Tian & Peter Müller-Buschbaum

  4. Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China

    Chunyang Yin & Sai Bai

  5. Xianhu Laboratory of the Advanced Energy Science and Technology Guangdong Laboratory, Foshan, People’s Republic of China

    Fuzhi Huang & Yi-Bing Cheng

  6. Hubei Longzhong Laboratory, Wuhan University of Technology (Xiangyang Demonstration Zone), Xiangyang, People’s Republic of China

    Liqiang Mai

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Contributions

T.B. and F.H. supervised this work. T.B. conceived the ideas and designed the experiments. J.L. and C.J. conducted the corresponding device and basic characterization. T.T. did the GIWAXS characterization and analyses. J.S. conducted the DFT calculation and analysis. C.Y. and S.B. did the PL mapping characterization and analysis. R.J., J.M., Z.K., P.M.-B., F.H., L.M. and Y.-B.C. provided valuable suggestions for the paper. T.B. and J.L. participated in all the data analysis and wrote the paper, and all authors reviewed the paper.

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Correspondence to Fuzhi Huang, Liqiang Mai or Tongle Bu.

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Nature Energy thanks Yi Yang and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Li, J., Jin, C., Jiang, R. et al. Homogeneous coverage of the low-dimensional perovskite passivation layer for formamidinium–caesium perovskite solar modules. Nat Energy 9, 1540–1550 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01667-8

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