Urea additive improves the performance of low bandgap tin–lead perovskite solar cells

Abstract Recently, narrow bandgap tin–lead mixed perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have become a research hotspot because they can be applied in tandem cells to break the Shockley–Queisser radiative limit of the single junction PSCs. However, the introduction of tin, on the one hand, makes the crystal quality of perovskite thin film worse, leading to the increase of film defects; on the other hand, the easy oxidation of divalent tin also leads to the increase of defect states, which seriously affects the photoelectric conversion efficiency of tin–lead cell devices. Good crystallization and low defect density of perovskite layer are very important to ensure good light absorption and photogenerated carrier generation and transport. Here, we adjust the crystallization of tin–lead perovskite films by a Lewis base—urea (CO(NH₂)₂), which significantly increases the grain size and improves the film morphology. At the same time, because of the Lewis base property of urea, the uncoordinated Pb²⁺ and Sn²⁺ defects of Lewis acids in the tin–lead films are effectively passivated, and the occurrence of non-radiative recombination in the films is reduced. Under the dual effects of improving crystallization and passivating defects, the photoelectric performance of tin–lead perovskite solar cell devices is significantly improved to 18.1% compared with the original device of 15.4%.