Enhancing the thermal stability of the carbon-based perovskite solar cells by using a Cs: XFA1- xPbBrxI3- x light absorber

Abstract

Despite the impressive photovoltaic performance with a power conversion efficiency beyond 23%, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) suffer from poor long-term stability, failing by far the market requirements. Although many efforts have been made towards improving the stability of PSCs, the thermal stability of PSCs with CH3NH3PbI3 as a perovskite and organic hole-transport material (HTM) remains a challenge. In this study, we employed the thermally stable (NH2)2CHPbI3 (FAPbI3) as the light absorber for the carbon-based and HTM-free PSCs, which can be fabricated by screen printing. By introducing a certain amount of CsBr (10%) into PbI2, we obtained a phase-stable CsxFA1-xPbBrxI3-x perovskite by a "two-step" method and improved the device power conversion efficiency from 10.81% to 14.14%. Moreover, the as-prepared PSCs with mixed-cation perovskite showed an excellent long-term stability under constant heat (85 °C) and thermal cycling (-30 °C to 85 °C) conditions. These thermally stable and fully-printable PSCs would be of great significance for the development of low-cost photovoltaics.