Tin halide perovskites attract incremental attention to deliver lead‐free perovskite solar cells. Nevertheless, disordered crystal growth and low defect formation energy, related to Sn(II) oxidation to Sn(IV), limit the efficiency and stability of solar cells. Engineering the processing from perovskite precursor solution preparation to film crystallization is crucial to tackle these issues and enable the full photovoltaic potential of tin halide perovskites. Herein, the ionic liquid n‐butylammonium acetate (BAAc) is used to tune the tin coordination with specific O…Sn chelating bonds and NH…X hydrogen bonds. The coordination between BAAc and tin enables modulation of the crystallization of the perovskite in a thin film. The resulting BAAc‐containing perovskite films are more compact and have a preferential crystal orientation. Moreover, a lower amount of Sn(IV) and related chemical defects are found for the BAAc‐containing perovskites. Tin halide perovskite solar cells processed with BAAc show a power conversion efficiency of over 10%. This value is retained after storing the devices for over 1000 h in nitrogen. This work paves the way toward a more controlled tin‐based perovskite crystallization for stable and efficient lead‐free perovskite photovoltaics.
Tin
is one of the most promising alternatives to lead to make lead-free
halide perovskites for optoelectronics. However, the stability of
tin-based perovskites is hindered by the oxidation of Sn(II) to Sn(IV).
Recent works established that dimethyl sulfoxide, which is one of
the best-performing solvents for processing perovskite, is the primary
source of tin oxidation. The quest for a stable solvent could be a
game-changer in the stability of tin-based perovskites. Starting from
a database of over 2000 solvents, we identified a series of 12 new
solvents suitable for the processing of formamidinium tin iodide perovskite
(FASnI3) by investigating (1) the solubility of the precursor chemicals
FAI and SnI2, (2) the thermal stability of the precursor
solution, and (3) the possibility of forming perovskite. Finally,
we demonstrate a new solvent system to produce solar cells outperforming
those based on DMSO. Our work provides guidelines for further identification
of new solvents or solvent mixtures for preparing stable tin-based
perovskites.
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.
Discovery of new antimicrobials is highly desired due to the emergence of microorganisms that have multi-drug resistant capability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the antimicrobial effect of dopamine (DA) on Escherichia coli. DA's inhibitory activity was tested at different initial E. coli cell concentrations. Significant 3.5 and 4.2 log inhibitions were observed for 1 Â 10 8 and 1 Â 10 7 cells per mL, when compared to controls, corresponding to 99.97 and 99.99% inhibitions. Microscopic techniques (optical, fluorescence, and scanning electron) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed a polydopamine coating on the bacterial cells. Capillary electrophoresis with ultra-violet detection indicated a significant change in the cell structure caused by a low dose (100 mg L À1 ) of DA within 200 min of incubation.
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