Methylammonium thiocyanate seeds assisted heterogeneous nucleation for achieving high-performance perovskite solar cells

Thiocyanate (SCN-) has been reported to manage crystallization of perovskite films and improve their optoelectronic properties in solar cells. However, the mechanism of SCN- in preparation of high-quality (MAFA)Pb(IBr)3 based light-absorbing layers has not been well investigated yet. In this work, we investigate the effects of SCN- on phase transition of (MAFA)Pb(IBr)3 perovskite films and the corresponding device performance by introducing methylammonium thiocyanate (MASCN) in a PbI2 precursor solution which is used to make perovskite by a two-step sequential deposition method. Characterization of the perovskite films has shown that a proper amount (1 mg/mL) of MASCN in PbI2 can produce PbI2-MASCN seeds which act as a nucleation center for assisting heterogeneous nucleation of the (MAFA)Pb(IBr)3. Meanwhile, MASCN helps to effectively control crystallization of the perovskite film by obtaining preferential crystal growth orientation. Furthermore, MASCN is beneficial to eliminate residual PbI2 and prepare perovskite films with low trap-state density. Consequently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the perovskite solar cells increases from 18.36% to 20.4%. An enhanced device stability against moisture is also observed in the MASCN-treated device which exhibits 90% retention of the initial efficiency after exposed to the ambient air for 1780 h.