Enhanced performance of planar perovskite solar cells by doping the SnO2 electron transport layer with guanidinium chloride

International audienceTin (IV) oxide is a highly promising electron transport layer (ETL) for lead halide perovskite solar cells due to its high conductivity, transparency, wide band gap, and the possibility of low-temperature processing. Nonetheless, charge carrier recombination processes at the SnO 2 /perovskite interface diminish the device performance. Here, we demonstrate that SnO 2 doping with guanidine hydrochloride (G-SnO 2 ) leads to efficient surface passivation and a larger band offset between the ETL and the perovskite layer, resulting in reduced voltage losses and faster electron transfer. Moreover, G-SnO 2 facilitates the growth of highly crystalline perovskite layers. Consequently, a power conversion efficiency of up to 23.48% and a high open-circuit voltage of 1.18 V are obtained in solar cells incorporating the G-SnO 2 ETL. These devices also exhibited negligible hysteresis and maintained more than 96% of their initial power conversion efficiency after 1250 h exposure to the air without encapsulation