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Nature Photonics volume 19, pages 985–991 (2025)
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Perovskite solar cells have developed rapidly in the past decade. For fabricating highly efficient perovskite solar cells, efforts have been devoted to modulate the nucleation and crystallization processes of perovskite active layers by solvent, antisolvent and additive engineering. However, there is still a need for effective strategies to regulate perovskite nucleation and crystal growth and passivating in situ defects on the surface and at the grain boundaries. Here we introduce 1,4-butane sultone as the second solvent into the perovskite precursor solution to regulate the nucleation of the α-FAPbI3 layer. The interaction between 1,4-butane sultone and the solute decreases the density of nucleation and inhibits secondary nucleation. At the same time, the ring-opening conversion of 1,4-butane sultone during the annealing process produces 4-chlorobutane-1-sulfonate and 4-iodobutane-1-sulfonate, which effectively passivate the surface defects in the perovskite. As a result, treated n–i–p planar perovskite solar cells attain a power conversion efficiency of 26.5% (certified as 26.2%), with enhanced long-term stability.
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This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (no. 2024YFB4205200), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences via grant no. XDB 0520102 and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 52173188 and 52103243). Y.W. thanks Shenzhen HUASUAN Technology for assistance with the DFT calculations.
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Yiyang Wang, Chenxing Lu, Minchao Liu, Can Zhu, Jinyuan Zhang, Shucheng Qin, Zhe Liu, Xiaojun Li, Lei Meng & Yongfang Li
School of Chemical Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Yiyang Wang, Chenxing Lu, Minchao Liu, Can Zhu, Shucheng Qin, Zhe Liu, Lei Meng & Yongfang Li
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, the Center for Physicochemical Analysis and Measurement, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Meirong Liu
Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Living Biosystems, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Yao Zhao & Fuyi Wang
Laboratory of Advanced Optoelectronic Materials, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Novel Semiconductor Materials and Devices, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou, China
Yongfang Li
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L.M. conceived the idea, designed the experiments, analysed the data and co-wrote the paper. Y.W. performed the fabrication, measurement and analysis of the devices. C.L., M.C.L., C.Z. and Z.L. participated in the solar cell fabrication and characterization. S.Q. analysed the DFT data. J.Z. and M.R.L. performed the in situ PL measurements. Y.Z. and F.W. performed the TOF-SIMS measurements and analysed the data. X.L. analysed the NMR data. L.M. and Y.L. supervised the project. L.M., Y.W. and Y.L. wrote the paper. All authors contributed to the work.
Correspondence to Lei Meng or Yongfang Li.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Photonics thanks Guojia Fang, Rui Wang and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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Wang, Y., Lu, C., Liu, M. et al. Solvent-assisted reaction for spontaneous defect passivation in perovskite solar cells. Nat. Photon. 19, 985–991 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01704-2
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