Kinetic Control of Solvate Intermediate Evolution for High-Performance Perovskite Solar Cells by the Facial Mask Incubation Technique

The growth of high-quality perovskite films is complicated by the fact of uncontrollable crystallization pathways from perovskite precursors. During solution processing, extensive undesired nonperovskite products including residual solvate intermediates are produced due to quick solvent evaporation, which will adversely affect the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Herein, we developed a highly efficient phase-transition pathway using a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based facial mask (FM) incubation technique, which enables significant reduction of the perovskite crystallization rate and depression of perovskite aggregation behavior. A surprising finding reveals that this technique induces complete phase transition from solvate intermediates to the perovskite phase, thereby obtaining phase-pure perovskite film. Meanwhile, a high-quality perovskite film with a shiny smooth surface, decreased defect states, and alleviated lattice strain is achieved after utilizing the FM strategy. Consequently, the target-inverted PSCs deliver a respectable efficiency of ∼21% and superior stability in both shelf storage (over 3700 h with 90% of initial efficiency) and light soaking (over 1000 h with 80% of initial efficiency) conditions. Our work highlights the importance of eliminating residual solvate intermediates to construct high-quality perovskites with excellent phase purity for ongoing production of high-performance perovskite-based optoelectronic devices.