The
design and synthesis of a stable and efficient hole-transport
material (HTM) for perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are one of the most
demanding research areas. At present, 2,2′,7,7′-tetrakis[N,N-di(4-methoxyphenyl)amino]-9,9′-spirobifluorene
(spiro-MeOTAD) is a commonly used HTM in the fabrication of high-efficiency
PSCs; however, its complicated synthesis, addition of a dopant in
order to realize the best efficiency, and high cost are major challenges
for the further development of PSCs. Herein, various diketopyrrolopyrrole-based
small molecules were synthesized with the same backbone but distinct
alkyl side-chain substituents (i.e., 2-ethylhexyl-, n-hexyl-, ((methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)ethyl-, and (2-((2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)ethyl)acetamide,
designated as D-1, D-2, D-3, and D-4, respectively) as HTMs. The variation
in the alkyl chain has shown obvious effects on the optical and electrochemical
properties as well as on the molecular packing and film-forming ability.
Consequently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the PSC under
one sun illumination (100 mW cm–2) is shown to increase
in the order of D-1 (8.32%) < D-2 (11.12%) < D-3 (12.05%) <
D-4 (17.64%). Various characterization techniques reveal that the
superior performance of D-4 can be ascribed to the well-aligned highest
occupied molecular orbital energy level with the counter electrode,
the more compact π–π stacking with a higher coherence
length, and the excellent hole mobility of 1.09 × 10–3 cm2 V–1 s–1, thus
providing excellent energetics for effective charge transport with
minimal charge-carrier recombination. Furthermore, the addition of
the dopant Li-TFSI in D-4 is shown to deliver a remarkable PCE of
20.19%, along with a short-circuit current density (J
SC), open-circuit voltage (V
OC), and fill factor (FF) of 22.94 mA cm–2, 1.14
V, and 73.87%, respectively, and superior stability compared to that
of other HTMs. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of side-chain
engineering for tailoring the properties of HTMs, thus offering new
design tactics to fabricate for the synthesis of highly efficient
and stable HTMs for PSCs.