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Realization of reduced ionic (cationic and anionic) defects at the surface and grain boundaries (GBs) of perovskite films is vital to boost the power conversion efficiency of organic-inorganic halide perovskite (OIHP) solar cells. Although numerous strategies have been developed, effective passivation still remains a great challenge due to the complexity and diversity of these defects. Herein, a solid-state interdiffusion process using multi-cation hybrid halide perovskite quantum dots (QDs) is introduced as a strategy to heal the ionic defects at the surface and GBs. It is found that the solid-state interdiffusion process leads to a reduction in OIHP shallow defects. In addition, Cs + distribution in QDs greatly influences the effectiveness of ionic defect passivation with significant enhancement to all photovoltaic performance characteristics observed on treating the solar cells with Cs 0.05 (MA 0.17 FA 0.83 ) 0.95 PbBr 3 (abbreviated as QDs-Cs5). This enables power conversion efficiency (PCE) exceeding 21% to be achieved with more than 90% of its initial PCE retained on exposure to continuous illumination of more than 550 h., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Over the past decade, lead halide perovskites have emerged as one of the leading photovoltaic materials due to their long carrier lifetimes, high absorption coefficients, high tolerance to defects, and facile processing methods. With a bandgap of ~1.6 eV, lead halide perovskite solar cells have achieved power conversion efficiencies in excess of 25%. Despite this, poor material stability along with lead contamination remains a significant barrier to commercialization. Recently, low-dimensional perovskites, where at least one of the structural dimensions is measured on the nanoscale, have demonstrated significantly higher stabilities, and although their power conversion efficiencies are slightly lower, these materials also open up the possibility of quantum-confinement effects such as carrier multiplication. Furthermore, both bulk perovskites and low-dimensional perovskites have been demonstrated to form hybrids with silicon nanocrystals, where numerous device architectures can be exploited to improve efficiency. In this review, we provide an overview of perovskite solar cells, and report the current progress in nanoscale perovskites, such as low-dimensional perovskites, perovskite quantum dots, and perovskite-nanocrystal hybrid solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-dimensional lead halide perovskite materials are an emerging class of solution-processable semiconductors with promising potential applications in optoelectronic devices. Unfortunately, it is impossible to synthesize high-crystalline-quality low-dimensional perovskite single crystals without using chemotoxic solutions such as dimethylformamide/dimethyl sulfoxide or applying heating. Herein we report an economical and universal aqueous method to synthesize 2D layered and 1D chain perovskite single crystals at room temperature. The resultant chiral 2D perovskites can efficiently and selectively emit and detect circularly polarized light at room temperature. The as-synthesized 1D perovskite single crystals exhibit strong quantum confinement and enhanced self-trapped states that give efficient warm circularly polarized white-light emission. This aqueous synthetic method is general for other high-quality low-dimensional lead halide perovskite single crystals, and thus our findings would motivate more fundamental investigations on low-dimensional perovskites for potential optoelectronic applications.

Low-dimensional Ruddlesden-Popper (LDRP) perovskites are a current theme in solar energy research as researchers attempt to fabricate stable photovoltaic devices from them. However, poor exciton dissociation and insufficiently fast charge transfer slows the charge extraction in these devices, resulting in inferior performance. 1,4-Butanediamine (BEA)-based low-dimensional perovskites are designed to improve the carrier extraction efficiency in such devices. Structural characterization using single-crystal X-ray diffraction reveals that these layered perovskites are formed by the alternating ordering of diammonium (BEA 2+ ) and monoammonium (MA + ) cations in the interlayer space (B-ACI) with the formula (BEA) 0.5 MA n PbnI 3n+1 . Compared to the typical LDRP counterparts, these B-ACI perovskites deliver a wider light absorption window and lower exciton binding energies with a more stable layered perovskite structure. Additionally, ultrafast transient absorption indicates that B-ACI perovskites exhibit a narrow distribution of quantum well widths, leading to a barrier-free and balanced carrier transport pathway with enhanced carrier diffusion (electron and hole) length over 350 nm. A perovskite solar cell incorporating BEA ligands achieves record efficiencies of 14.86% for (BEA) 0.5 MA 3 Pb 3 I 10 and 17.39% for (BEA) 0.5 Cs 0.15 (FA 0.83 MA 0.17 ) 2.85 Pb 3 (I 0.83 Br 0.17 ) 10 without hysteresis. Furthermore, the triple cations B-ACI devices can retain over 90% of their initial power conversion efficiency when stored under ambient atmospheric conditions for 2400 h and show no significant degradation under constant illumination for over 500 h., (© 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have emerged as promising candidates for photovoltaic technology with their power conversion efficiencies over 23%. For prototypical organic–inorganic metal halide perovskites, their intrinsic instability poses significant challenges to the commercialization of PSCs. Recently, the scientific community has done tremendous work in composition engineering to develop more robust light‐absorbing layers, including mixed‐ion hybrid perovskites, low‐dimensional hybrid perovskites, and all‐inorganic perovskites. This review provides an overview of the impact of these perovskites on the efficiency and long‐term stability of PSCs. The intrinsic instability of metal halide perovskites is one of the main factors that limit the commercialization of perovskite solar cells. This review highlights the recent progress in the composition engineering of metal halide perovskites for improving the stability of perovskite solar cells. The strategy of using mixed‐ion hybrid perovskites, low‐dimensional hybrid perovskites, and all‐inorganic perovskites is discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Control over grain size and crystallinity is important for preparation of methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI 3 ) solar cells. We explore the effects of using small concentrations of Cd 2+ and unusually high concentrations of methylammonium iodide during the growth of MAPbI 3 in the two-step solution process. In addition to improved crystallinity and an enhancement in the size of the grains, time-resolved photoluminescence measurements indicated a dramatic increase in the carrier lifetime. As a result, devices constructed with the Cd-modified perovskites showed nearly a factor of 2 improvement in the power conversion efficiency (PCE) relative to similar devices prepared without Cd addition. The grains also showed a higher degree of orientation in the ⟨110⟩ direction, indicating a change in the growth mechanism, and the films were compact and smooth. We propose a Cd-modified film growth mechanism that invokes a critical role for low-dimensional Cd perovskites to explain the experimental observations.