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Nature Energy volume 10, pages 991–1000 (2025)
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Chemically inert low-dimensional (CI LD) halogenometallate interfaces incorporating low-reactivity bulky cations could address the trade-off between efficiency and stability in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, their formation is hindered by the low reactivity of their bulky cations and solubility constraints of their precursors in orthogonal solvents compatible with underlying perovskites. Here we introduce a selective templating growth strategy that leverages conventional metastable LD interfaces as templates to drive the growth of more stable CI LD interfaces through an organic cation exchange process. Our prototype PSCs achieve efficiencies of 25.1% over an active area of 1.235 cm2—among the highest reported for 1-cm2 PSCs. The PSCs retain over 93% and 98% of their initial efficiency after 1,000 h of operation and 1,100 h of thermal ageing at 85 °C, respectively. The versatility of this strategy unlocks access to CI LD interfaces, paving the way for the development of more efficient and stable PSCs.
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All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the Article and its Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with the paper. These data are also openly available via DR-NTU (Data) at https://doi.org/10.21979/N9/NX6QUX.
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This work was supported by the Ministry of Education under its AcRF Tier 1 (RG8/23 (Y.M.L.)), Tier 2 (MOE-T2EP50120-0004 (T.C.S.) and MOE-T2EP50123-0001 (T.C.S.)), and Tier 3 (MOE-MOET32023-0003 (Y.M.L.)) grants, the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore under its NRF Investigatorship (NRF-NRFI2018-04 (T.C.S.)), and the Competitive Research Program (NRF-CRP25-2020-0004 (T.C.S.)). We thank the Facility for Analysis, Characterization, Testing and Simulation (FACTS) (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) for use of their electron microscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy instrument and X-ray facilities. We also thank the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) for PV authentication tests. We thank Q. Xu for his assistance with the DFT calculation.
These authors contributed equally: Haixia Rao, Senyun Ye.
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Haixia Rao, Teddy Salim, Lifei Xi, Zhihao Yen, Rajendra Salim, Xingchi Xiao & Yeng Ming Lam
Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Senyun Ye, Rishikanta Mayengbam, Yuanyuan Guo, Minjun Feng, Yue Wang, Rui Cai, Bo Wang, Huajun He & Tze Chien Sum
Facility for Analysis Characterisation Testing and Simulation, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Teddy Salim & Lifei Xi
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Y.M.L., T.C.S., H.R. and S.Y. conceived the idea for the manuscript and designed the experiments. H.R. and S.Y. conducted sample preparation, device fabrication, optimization and characterization. T.S. performed the ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy and SEM measurements. Y.G. and M.F. conducted the time-resolved photoluminescence measurements. R.M. did the DFT calculation. L.X. performed the cross-sectional SEM measurements. Z.Y. and X.X. did the 1H NMR measurements. R.S. did the thickness and SEM measurements. Y.W., B.W., and H.H. assisted with device fabrication. R.C. assisted with single-crystal growth. All authors were involved in discussions of data analysis and commented on the manuscript. H.R. and S.Y. wrote the manuscript. Y.M.L. and T.C.S. revised the manuscript. Y.M.L. and T.C.S. led the project.
Correspondence to Tze Chien Sum or Yeng Ming Lam.
T.C.S., Y.M.L., H.R. and S.Y. are listed as inventors on a patent application filed by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) that covers the strategy developed in this manuscript. The other authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Energy thanks Eui Hyuk Jung, Enzheng Shi and the other, anonymous, reviewer 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.
Supplementary Figs. 1–41 and Table 1.
Spin-coated STG process.
Blade-coated STG process.
Source data for Supplementary Figs. 22, 24a, 25b, 29 and 31.
Computational data for Supplementary CIF 1–4.
Source data for Fig. 4.
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Rao, H., Ye, S., Salim, T. et al. Selective templating growth of chemically inert low-dimensional interfaces for perovskite solar cells. Nat Energy 10, 991–1000 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-025-01815-8
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