Chlorinated Fullerene Dimers for Interfacial Engineering Toward Stable Planar Perovskite Solar Cells with 22.3% Efficiency

A major limit for planar perovskite solar cells is the trap-mediated hysteresis and instability, due to the defective metal oxide interface with the perovskite layer. Passivation engineering with fullerenes has been identified as an effective approach to modify this interface. The rational design of fullerene molecules with exceptional electrical properties and versatile chemical moieties for targeted defect passivation is therefore highly demanded. In this work, novel fulleropyrrolidine (NMBF-X, X(sic)H or Cl) monomers and dimers are synthesized and incorporated between metal oxides (i.e. TiO2, SnO2) and perovskites (i.e. MAPbI(3) and (FAPbI(3))(x)(MAPbBr(3))(1-)(x)). The fullerene dimers provide superior stability and efficiency improvements compared to the corresponding monomers, with chlorinated fullerene dimers being most effective at coordinating with both metal oxides and perovskite via the chlorine terminals. The non-encapsulated planar device delivers a maximum power conversion efficiency of 22.3% without any hysteresis, while maintaining over 98% of initial efficiency after ambient storage for 1000 h, and exhibiting an order of magnitude improvement of the T-80 lifetime.