H2O-induced PbI2 pre-nucleation enhances uniformity, phase stability, and efficiency in carbon-based, HTL-free perovskite solar cells
- 1aInternational Research Center for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
- 2bState Key Discipline Laboratory of Wide Band Gap Semiconductor Technology & Shaanxi Joint Key Laboratory of Graphene, School of Microelectronics, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710071, China.
- 3cSchool of Energy and Power Engineering, Yulin University, Yulin, China.
Abstract
High-quality perovskite films are crucial for high-performance hole transport layer-free carbon-based perovskite solar cells (CPSCs). However, solution-processed multi-component perovskites (FA0.9Cs0.1PbI3−xClx) often suffer from nonuniform crystallization, leading to phase/compositional heterogeneity that limits device efficiency and stability. Here, trace H2O is introduced after precursor preparation to perturb the local precursor environment and regulate the early-stage evolution of the film. This treatment promotes the preformation of PbI2-related species before supersaturation, suppresses the local aggregation of PbI2-related intermediates, and steers the subsequent conversion toward a Pb–I-dominated pathway. This approach effectively suppresses chloride ion segregation at the film surface and improves the phase uniformity of the perovskite, thereby enhancing chemical contact at the carbon electrode interface and mitigating the adverse effects of downward band bending. As a result, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the H2O-treated CPSCs increased from 15.72% to 19.70% (improved by 25.31%), accompanied by a high open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 1.093 V. Furthermore, the devices retained over 94% of their initial efficiency after two months of storage in the dark (10% ± 5% RH, 25 ± 5 °C).
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BibTeX
@article{yang2026h2oinduced,
title = {{H2O-induced PbI2 pre-nucleation enhances uniformity, phase stability, and efficiency in carbon-based, HTL-free perovskite solar cells}},
author = {Sheng Yang and Luning Li and Yukai Liu and Suyi Yang and Chaofan Guo and Weidong Zhu and Baoyuan Wang and Jinzhan Su},
journal = {EES Solar},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1039/d6el00094k},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1039/d6el00094k},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - H2O-induced PbI2 pre-nucleation enhances uniformity, phase stability, and efficiency in carbon-based, HTL-free perovskite solar cells
AU - Sheng Yang
AU - Luning Li
AU - Yukai Liu
AU - Suyi Yang
AU - Chaofan Guo
AU - Weidong Zhu
AU - Baoyuan Wang
AU - Jinzhan Su
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/01
JO - EES Solar
DO - 10.1039/d6el00094k
UR - https://doi.org/10.1039/d6el00094k
AB - High-quality perovskite films are crucial for high-performance hole transport layer-free carbon-based perovskite solar cells (CPSCs). However, solution-processed multi-component perovskites (FA0.9Cs0.1PbI3−xClx) often suffer from nonuniform crystallization, leading to phase/compositional heterogeneity that limits device efficiency and stability. Here, trace H2O is introduced after precursor preparation to perturb the local precursor environment and regulate the early-stage evolution of the film. This treatment promotes the preformation of PbI2-related species before supersaturation, suppresses the local aggregation of PbI2-related intermediates, and steers the subsequent conversion toward a Pb–I-dominated pathway. This approach effectively suppresses chloride ion segregation at the film surface and improves the phase uniformity of the perovskite, thereby enhancing chemical contact at the carbon electrode interface and mitigating the adverse effects of downward band bending. As a result, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the H2O-treated CPSCs increased from 15.72% to 19.70% (improved by 25.31%), accompanied by a high open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 1.093 V. Furthermore, the devices retained over 94% of their initial efficiency after two months of storage in the dark (10% ± 5% RH, 25 ± 5 °C).
SN - 3033-4063
ER -