Inexpensive Hole‐Transporting Materials Derived from Tröger's Base Afford Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells

The synthesis of three enamine hole‐transporting materials (HTMs) based on Tröger's base scaffold are reported. These compounds are obtained in a three‐step facile synthesis from commercially available materials without the need of expensive catalysts, inert conditions or time‐consuming purification steps. The best performing material, HTM3, demonstrated 18.62 % PCE in PSCs, rivaling spiro‐OMeTAD in efficiency, and showing markedly superior long‐term stability in non‐encapsulated devices. In dopant‐free PSCs, HTM3 outperformed spiro‐OMeTAD by a factror of 1.6. The high glass‐transition temperature (T_g=176 °C) of HTM3 also suggests promising perspectives in device applications.     

Azatruxene-Based,Dumbbell-Shaped,Donor–π-Bridge–Donor Hole-Transporting Materials for Perovskite Solar Cells

Three novel donor–π-bridge–donor (D -π-D) hole-transporting materials (HTMs) featuring triazatruxene electron-donating units bridged by different 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) π-conjugated linkers have been synthesized, characterized, and implemented in mesoporous perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The optoelectronic properties of the new dumbbell-shaped derivatives (DTTXs) are highly influenced by the chemical structure of the EDOT-based linker. Red-shifted absorption and emission and a stronger donor ability were observed in passing from DTTX-1 to DTTX-2 due to the extended π-conjugation. DTTX-3 featured an intramolecular charge transfer between the external triazatruxene units and the azomethine–EDOT central scaffold, resulting in a more pronounced redshift. The three new derivatives have been tested in combination with the state-of-the-art triple-cation perovskite [(FAPbI₃)_0.87(MAPbBr₃)_0.13]_0.92[CsPbI₃]_0.08 in standard mesoporous PSCs. Remarkable power conversion efficiencies of 17.48 % and 18.30 % were measured for DTTX-1 and DTTX-2 , respectively, close to that measured for the benchmarking HTM spiro-OMeTAD (18.92 %), under 100 mA cm⁻² AM 1.5G solar illumination. PSCs with DTTX-3 reached a PCE value of 12.68 %, which is attributed to the poorer film formation in comparison to DTTX-1 and DTTX-2 . These PCE values are in perfect agreement with the conductivity and hole mobility values determined for the new compounds and spiro-OMeTAD. Steady-state photoluminescence further confirmed the potential of DTTX-1 and DTTX-2 for hole-transport applications as an alternative to spiro-OMeTAD.     

Palladium(II) iminophosphine complexes

New complexes of general formula [PdCl₂(NP)] (NP = o-Ph₂PC₆H₄-CH=N-R; R = Me, ⁱ Pr, ^t Bu, NH-Me) and [Pd(NP)₂](ClO₄)₂ (NP = o-Ph₂PC₆H₄-CH=N-R; R = Me, ⁱ Pr) have been prepared by directly reacting the precursor PdCl₂(PhCN)₂ with iminophosphines (NP) in 1:1 and 1:2 molar ratios respectively. When the chloro-complex [PdCl₂(o-Ph₂PC₆H₄-CH=N ⁱ -Pr)] was treated with CF₃SO₃Ag in MeCN, the labile complex [Pd(o-Ph₂PC₆H₄-CH=N ⁱ -Pr)(MeCN)₂](CF₃SO₃)₂ was obtained in good yield. The reactivity of the new precursor towards a variety of neutral N- and P-donor ligands (py, PMe₂Ph, PMePh₂, PEt₃, bipy, dppe, 2-thpy) has been studied. The new complexes were characterized by partial elemental analyses and by spectroscopy (i.r., ¹H- and ³¹P-n.m.r.). The molecular structure of the aquo-complex [Pd(NP)(2-thpy)(H₂O)](CF₃SO₃)₂ has been determined by a single-crystal diffraction study, showing that the iminophosphine acts as a chelating ligand with coordination around the palladium atom slightly distorted from square-planar geometry.