Interface engineering toward enhanced efficiency of planar perovskite solar cells

Interface engineering is an efficient method for improving the performance of planar perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In this paper, the performance of PSCs was improved significantly by introducing 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (Bphen) doped with bis(2-methyldibenzo-[f, h]quinoxaline) (Ir(MDQ)(2)(acac)) to modify the interface between perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3-xClx)/PCBM (phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester) and an Ag electrode. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) was enhanced up to 15.87%, compared with 10.77% for the reference device without interlayer modification. It was found that the enhanced PCE was attributed to the better interface contact between the perovskite and Ag cathode. A suitable interface roughness is beneficial for reducing the leakage current and the probability of carrier recombination, resulting in an enhanced fill factor and thus improved device efficiency.