Passivating the interface between halide perovskite and SnO2by capsaicin to accelerate charge transfer and retard recombination

Abstract

Capsaicin is used to modify SnO2 quantum dots and then used as an electron-transfer material for perovskite solar cells. After capsaicin modification, the power conversion efficiency of the devices increases from 19.90 (± 0.47)% to 21.87 (± 0.28)% with a champion device of 22.24% (AM 1.5G, 100 mW/cm2). Transient photovoltage and photocurrent decay show that, after the capsaicin doping, the lifetime increases from 21.55 (± 1.54) to 27.63 (± 1.45) μs, while the charge extraction time reduces from 1.90 (± 0.09) to 1.67 (± 0.06) μs. Time-resolved photoluminescence and impedance spectrum studies show similar results. The accelerated charge transfer and retarded recombination are due to defect passivation. Space charge limited current study shows that, after modification, the trap density of devices is reduced from 2.24 × 1015 to 1.28 × 1015 cm-3. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical calculation indicate that the reduced trap density is due to the chemical interaction between carbonyl group (from capsaicin) and Sn atom, and that between carbonyl group and Pb atom.