Highly efficient all-inorganic perovskite solar cells with suppressed non-radiative recombination by a Lewis base

Abstract All-inorganic perovskite solar cells (PVSCs) have drawn increasing attention because of their outstanding thermal stability. However, their performance is still inferior than the typical organic-inorganic counterparts, especially for the devices with p-i-n configuration. Herein, we successfully employ a Lewis base small molecule to passivate the inorganic perovskite film, and its derived PVSCs achieved a champion efficiency of 16.1% and a certificated efficiency of 15.6% with improved photostability, representing the most efficient inverted all-inorganic PVSCs to date. Our studies reveal that the nitrile (C-N) groups on the small molecule effectively reduce the trap density of the perovskite film and thus significantly suppresses the non-radiative recombination in the derived PVSC by passivating the Pb-exposed surface, resulting in an improved open-circuit voltage from 1.10 V to 1.16 V after passivation. This work provides an insight in the design of functional interlayers for improving efficiencies and stability of all-inorganic PVSCs.