Researchers from China's Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Singapore's National University of Singapore have introduced an eco-friendly and low-cost organic polymer, cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB), to the grain boundaries and surfaces of perovskites, resulting in a high-quality and low-defect perovskite film with a nearly tenfold improvement in carrier lifetime.
The CAB-treated perovskite films have a well-matched energy level with the charge transport layers, thus suppressing carrier nonradiative recombination and carrier accumulation. As a result, the optimized CAB-based device achieved a champion efficiency of 21.5% compared to the control device (18.2%).
Since the ester group in CAB bonds with Pb in perovskite, and the H and O in the hydroxyl group bond with the I and organic cations in perovskite, respectively, it will contribute to superior stability under heat, high humidity, and light soaking conditions. After aging under 35% humidity (relative humidity, RH) for 3300 h, the optimized device can still maintain more than 90% of the initial efficiency; it can also retain more than 90% of the initial efficiency after aging at 65 °C, 65% RH, or light (AM 1.5G) for 500 h. This simple optimization strategy for perovskite stability could facilitate the commercial application of perovskite solar cells.
