Molecular Ferroelectrics-Driven High-Performance Perovskite Solar Cells

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2020 Nov 2;59(45):19974-19982. doi: 10.1002/anie.202008494. Epub 2020 Sep 8.

Abstract

The nonradiative recombination of electrons and holes has been identified as the main cause of energy loss in hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Sufficient built-in field and defect passivation can facilitate effective separation of electron-hole pairs to address the crucial issues. For the first time, we introduce a homochiral molecular ferroelectric into a PSC to enlarge the built-in electric field of the perovskite film, thereby facilitating effective charge separation and transportation. As a consequence of similarities in ionic structure, the molecular ferroelectric component of the PSC passivates the defects in the active perovskite layers, thereby inducing an approximately eightfold enhancement in photoluminescence intensity and reducing electron trap-state density. The photovoltaic molecular ferroelectric PSCs achieve a power conversion efficiency as high as 21.78 %.

Keywords: built-in electric fields; defect passivation; molecular ferroelectrics; poling.