Functionalized porphyrin–fullerene dyads: a pathway to the enhanced performance of perovskite solar cells

Dyads consisting of a porphyrin with a bulky tert-butyl benzoate group linked to a fullerene cage through a biphenyl spacer were synthesized by the Prato reaction to fine-tune optoelectronic properties. The designed structural features of porphyrin-fullerene dyads enabled their application in perovskite layers, thereby enhancing the photovoltaic performance of solar cells. As a result, the achieved champion power conversion efficiency for dyad 3a as an additive in MAPbI3-based perovskite solar cell devices was 19.91%, significantly higher than that of the control device (17.67%). Steady-state photoluminescence measurements indicated more efficient charge extraction and transfer from the perovskite layer to the hole transport layer after the incorporation of dyad 3a. This study highlights the possible application of our developed strategy to improve the performance of perovskite solar cells.