3-Thiophenemalonic Acid Additive Enhanced Performance in Perovskite Solar Cells

The development of ambient-air-processable organic-inorganic halide perovskite solar cells (OIHPSCs) is a challenge necessary for the transfer of laboratory-scale technology to large-scale and low-cost manufacturing of such devices. Different approaches like additives, antisolvents, composition engineering, and different deposition techniques have been employed to improve the morphology of the perovskite films. Additives that can form Lewis acid-base adducts are known to minimize extrinsic impacts that trigger defects in ambient air. In this work, we used the 3-thiophenemalonic acid (3-TMA) additive, which possesses thiol and carboxyl functional groups, to convert PbI2, PbCl2, and CH3NH3I to CH3NH3PbI3 completely. This strategy is effective in regulating the kinetics of crystallization and improving the crystallinity of the light-absorbing layer under high relative humidity (RH) conditions (30-50%). As a result, the 3-TMA additive increases the yield of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 14.9 to 16.5% and its stability under the maximum power point. Finally, we found that the results of this work are highly relevant and provide additional inputs to the ongoing research progress related to additive engineering as one of the efficient strategies to reduce parasitic recombination and enhance the stability of inverted OIHPSCs in ambient environment processing.