Mixing of Azetidinium in Formamidinium Tin Triiodide Perovskite Solar Cells for Enhanced Photovoltaic Performance and High Stability in Air

Overcoming the issue of the stability of tin-based perovskites is a major challenge for the commercial development of lead-free perovskite solar cells. To attack this problem, a new organic cation, azetidinium (AZ), is incorporated into the crystal structure of formamidinium tin triiodide (FASnI₃) to form the mixed-cation perovskite AZ_xFA_1-xSnI₃. As AZ has a similar size to FA but a larger dipole moment, hybrid AZ_xFA_1-xSnI₃ films exhibit variation in optical and electronic properties on increasing the proportion of AZ. Trifluoromethylbenzene (CF₃C₆H₅) serves as antisolvent to fabricate smooth and uniform perovskite films for the devices with an inverted planar heterojunction structure. The device performance is optimized to produce the greatest efficiency at x=0.15 (AZ15), for which a power conversion efficiency of 9.6 % is obtained when the unencapsulated AZ15 device is stored in air for 100 h. Moreover, the device retains 90 % of its initial efficiency for over 15 days. The significant performance and stability of this device reveal that the concept of mixed cations is a promising approach to stabilize tin-based perovskite solar cells for future commercialization.