Benzophenone: A Small Molecule Additive for Enhanced Performance and Stability of Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells

In this study, we investigated the impact of benzophenone (BP), a small molecule additive, on the performance and stability of inverted perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Specifically, we introduced BP into the perovskite precursor solution of FAPbI 3 to fabricate PSCs with an ITO/PEDOT:PSS/BP:FAPbI 3 /PCBM/C 60 /PCB/Ag architecture. The incorporation of BP with an optimum concentration of 2 mg mL –1 significantly enhanced the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the inverted PSC from 13.12 to 18.84% with negligible hysteresis. Notably, the BP-based PSCs retained ∼90% of their initial PCE after being stored in ambient air with 30% relative humidity at 25 °C for 700 h. In contrast, control devices showed rapid degradation, retaining only 30% of their initial value within 300 h under the same conditions. We attributed the superior performance and stability of the BP-based PSCs to the grain boundary passivation of the perovskite film. The improvement was mainly attributed to the intermolecular interaction between the O-donor Lewis base BP material and both Pb 2+ and FA + in FAPbI 3 . This effectively suppresses trap-assisted recombination and promotes the conversion of the δ-phase to photoactive and stable α-phase FAPbI 3 . Overall, our findings suggest that BP is a promising additive for improving the performance and stability of inverted PSCs.