The research group led by Prof. Jihuai Wu, from College of Materials Science & Engineering of Huaqiao University (HQU) and Engineering Research Center of Environment-Friendly Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, has made a breakthrough in the area of perovskite solar cells. The research group has its research published in Advanced Functional Materials and Advanced Energy Materials, following the publication in Advanced Materials.

“Solvation-Driven Grain Boundary Passivation Improving the Performance of Perovskite Solar Cells”, co-written by doctoral students Chunyan Deng and Lina Tan, was published inAdvanced Energy Materials. A targeted grain boundary passivation strategy through solvent effects by incorporating symmetrical biphenyl molecules, 4,4’-diaminodiphenyl sulfone (DDS) and 4,4’-sulfodiphenol (SDP) was proposed, aiming to mitigate defects at GBs and optimize energy level arrangements through their electric dipole effects. Compared to the pristine device, the SDP-modified device exhibited significant improvements, including a champion efficiency of 24.39% and an impressive fill factor, along with excellent operation stability. This work provided an effective and straightforward solution for improving the performance of PSCs.

“Supramolecular Aza Crown Ether Modulator for Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells”, co-written by doctoral students Xia Chen and Chunyan Deng, was published inAdvanced Functional Materials. 1-aza-15-crown 5-ether (A15C5), with a unique nitrogen heterocyclic structure as a molecular modulator was introduced at the interface between perovskite layer and hole transport layer of PSCs. A15C5-modulated PSC achieved an impressing efficiency of 24.13% along with excellent humidity, light and thermal stability. This work provided a typical strategy to utilize supramolecular crown ether in PSCs.

The research was sponsored by Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China - Straits Joint Program (U1705256) and Programs of National Natural Science Foundation (51972123 and 21771066).

(Editor: Wei Linying)