A domestic research team has developed a technology that raises the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells by tuning the crystal structure without separate chemical additives.
Park Nam-gyu, a distinguished endowed professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University, said on the 4th that his team developed an interfacial design method that selectively controls the transport of electrons and holes by substituting a single atom in a molecule. The findings were published on the 3rd (local time) in the international journal Nature Materials.
Perovskite solar cells generate electrons and holes when exposed to light, and the two charges must move smoothly in opposite directions to achieve high efficiency. Previously, a doping approach that adds chemical additives was mainly used to aid charge transport, but there was a limitation that the additives could migrate or react, reducing long-term stability.
The team designed two organic cation molecules that differ by only one atom. Depending on the atomic difference, the crystal consolidation structure changed, with the sulfur-based structure favoring hole transport and the nitrogen-based structure favoring electron transport.
Applying these to both interfaces of the solar cell yielded a certified power conversion efficiency of 27.19%. In a large-area module of 655 ㎠, the efficiency reached 22.26%, and even after continuous illumination for 2,000 hours, it retained 97.8% of its initial performance.
Park said, "This study shows that charge transport can be controlled solely through the crystal consolidation structure without chemical doping," adding, "It is expected to significantly accelerate the commercialization of high-efficiency and high-stability perovskite solar cells."
References
Nature Materials (2026), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02722-3