The interfacial recombination at the perovskite/hole conductor interface generally results in significant energy losses in inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with a p−i−n device architecture. Herein, a chemical bridge is built at the interface of poly(triarylamine) (PTAA)/perovskites by using 3-(1-pyridinio)-1-propanesulfonate (PPS) molecules to minimize interfacial recombination of charge carriers. Extensively theoretical calculations and experimental studies reveal that the pyridine of PPS molecule and the phenyl group of PTAA could be chemically coupled through π−π stacking, and the sulfonate at the other end of PPS molecule could anchor perovskites through a strong SO••• Pb coordination bond. The chemical bridge structure significantly suppresses charge carrier recombination at the interface of PTAA/ perovskites. Meanwhile, after incorporation of PPS molecules as an additive in the perovskites to effectively passivate surface defects of perovskites, an efficiency of up to 21.7% with negligible hysteresis is achieved for inverted PSCs.

Large datasets are now ubiquitous as technology enables higher-throughput experiments, but rarely can a research field truly benefit from the research data generated due to inconsistent formatting, undocumented storage or improper dissemination. Here we extract all the meaningful device data from peer-reviewed papers on metal-halide perovskite solar cells published so far and make them available in a database. We collect data from over 42,400 photovoltaic devices with up to 100 parameters per device. We then develop open-source and accessible procedures to analyse the data, providing examples of insights that can be gleaned from the analysis of a large dataset. The database, graphics and analysis tools are made available to the community and will continue to evolve as an open-source initiative. This approach of extensively capturing the progress of an entire field, including sorting, interactive exploration and graphical representation of the data, will be applicable to many fields in materials science, engineering and biosciences.

Surface properties of colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are critical for the transportation and recombination of the photoinduced charge carrier in CQD solar cells, therefore dominating the photovoltaic performance. Herein, PbS CQD passivated using liquid-state ligand exchange (LSLX) and solid-state ligand exchange (SSLX) strategies are in detail investigated using photoelectron spectroscopy (PES), and solar cell devices are prepared to understand the link between the CQD surface properties and the solar cell function. PES using different energies in the soft and hard Xray regime is applied to study the surface and bulk properties of the CQDs, and the results show more effective surface passivation of the CQDs prepared with the LSLX strategy and less formation of lead-oxide. The CQD solar cells prepared with LSLX strategy show higher performance, and the photoelectric measurements suggest that the recombination of photoinduced charges is reduced for the solar cell prepared with the LSLX approach. Meanwhile, the fabricated solar cells exhibit good stability. This work provides important insights into how to fine-tune the CQD surface properties by improving the CQD passivation, and how this is linked to further improvements of the device photovoltaic performance.

An additional perovskite stacking layer is in situ grown on the top of a perovskite layer forming a perovskite stacking structure to improve the interfacial properties at the perovskite/carbon electrode interface.

CsPbI3 inorganic perovskite shows high potential for single-junction or tandem solar cells due to its suitable bandgap energy (Eg=~1.7 eV), but defect-assisted nonradiative recombination and unmatched interfacial band alignment within...