A facile, solvent vapor–fumigation-induced, self-repair recrystallization of CH3NH3PbI3 films for high-performance perovskite solar cells

A high-quality CH3NH3PbI3 film is crucial in the manufacture of a high-performance perovskite solar cell. Here, a recrystallization process via facile fumigation with DMF vapor has been successfully introduced to self-repair of CH3NH3PbI3 films with poor coverage and low crystallinity prepared by the commonly used one-step spin-coating method. We found that the CH3NH3PbI3 films with dendritic structures can spontaneously transform to the uniform ones with full coverage and high crystallinity by adjusting the cycles of the recrystallization process. The mesostructured perovskite solar cells based on these repaired CH3NH3PbI3 films showed reproducible optimal power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 11.15% and average PCE of 10.25 ± 0.90%, which are much better than that of devices based on the non-repaired CH3NH3PbI3 films. In addition, the hysteresis phenomenon in the current–voltage test can also be effectively alleviated due to the quality of the films being improved in the optimized devices. Our work proved that the fumigation of solvent vapor can modify metal organic perovskite films such as CH3NH3PbI3. It offers a novel and attractive way to fabricate high-performance perovskite solar cells.