Mechanistic Insights from Functional Group Exchange Surface Passivation: A Combined Theoretical and Experimental Study

Four different functional groups including amino (-NH2), phosphine (-PH2), hydroxyl (-OH), and thiol (-SH) were combined with POSS (polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane) molecules to investigate how functional groups affect the surface passivation of POSS systems. Results from density-functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that functional group amino (-NH2) with adsorption energy 86 (56) kJ mol(-1) is consistently better than that of thiol (-SH) with adsorption energy 68 (43) kJ mor(-1) for different passivation mechanisms. Theoretical studies on the analogous POSS-OH and POSS-PH2 systems show similar adsorption energies. Two of the systems were also investigated experimentally; aminopropyl isobutyl POSS (POSS-NH2) and mercaptopropyl isobutyl POSS (POSS-SH) were applied as passivation materials for MAPbI(3) (MA = methylammonium) perovskite and (FA)(0.85)(MA)(0.15)Pb(I-3)(0.85)(Br-3)(0)(.15)(FA = formamidinium) perovskite films. The same conclusion was drawn based on the results from contact angle studies, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the stability of solar cells in ambient atmosphere, indicating the vital importance of choice of functional groups for passivation of the perovskite materials.