Suppression of Charge Carrier Recombination in Lead-Free Tin Halide Perovskite via Lewis Base Post-treatment

Lead-free tin perovskite solar cells (PSCs) show the most promise to replace the more toxic lead-based perovskite solar cells. However, the efficiency is significantly less than that of lead-based PSCs as a result of low open-circuit voltage. This is due to the tendency of Sn²⁺ to oxidize into Sn⁴⁺ in the presence of air together with the formation of defects and traps caused by the fast crystallization of tin perovskite materials. Here, post-treatment of the tin perovskite layer with edamine Lewis base to suppress the recombination reaction in tin halide PSCs results in efficiencies higher than 10%, which is the highest reported efficiency to date for pure tin halide PSCs. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data suggest that the recombination reaction originates from the nonstoichiometric Sn:I ratio rather than the Sn⁴⁺:Sn²⁺ ratio. The amine group in edamine bonded the undercoordinated tin, passivating the dangling bonds and defects, resulting in suppressed charge carrier recombination.