Coordination Engineering of Single-Crystal Precursor for Phase Control in Ruddlesden-Popper Perovskite Solar Cells

2D Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites (RPPs) have recently drawn significant attention because of their structural variability that can be used to tailor optoelectronic properties and improve the stability of derived photovoltaic devices. However, charge separation and transport in 2D perovskite solar cells (PSCs) suffer from quantum well barriers formed during the processing of perovskites. It is extremely difficult to manage phase distributions in 2D perovskites made from the stoichiometric mixtures of precursor solutions. Herein, a generally applicable guideline is demonstrated for precisely controlling phase purity and arrangement in RPP films. By visually presenting the critical colloidal formation of the single-crystal precursor solution, coordination engineering is conducted with a rationally selected cosolvent to tune the colloidal properties. In nonpolar cosolvent media, the derived colloidal template enables RPP crystals to preferentially grow along the vertically ordered alignment with a narrow phase variation around a target value, resulting in efficient charge transport and extraction. As a result, a record-high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14.68% is demonstrated for a (TEA)(2)(MA)(2)Pb3I10 (n = 3) photovoltaic device with negligible hysteresis. Remarkably, superior stability is achieved with 93% retainment of the initial efficiency after 500 h of unencapsulated operation in ambient air conditions.