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Nature Photonics (2026)
The efficiency–stability trade-off in perovskite solar cells continues to be challenged by issues such as ion migration and defects at grain boundaries and interfaces. Here we address this challenge by an in situ kinetic processing route using a bifunctional spacer, 2-(prop-2-en-1-ylsulfanyl)ethan-1-amine hydrochloride (PYA). Arresting annealing at a metastable stage enables PYA infiltration along widened grain boundaries and incompletely crystallized buried interfaces, whereas deep-ultraviolet activation crosslinks PYA to form a phase-pure 2D ‘nanomesh’ that encapsulates three-dimensional grains. This omnidirectional network enables defect passivation across the surface, bulk and interface; suppresses electrostrictive lattice distortion by over 80%; and reduces iodide migration ratio by more than 55%, linking mechanical reinforcement to operational resilience. Devices deliver a power conversion efficiency of 27.37% (certified, 27.01%) and retain over 90% performance after 2,110 h of 1-sun illumination, over 95% after 2,400 h at 85 °C in a N2 atmosphere, and 97% after 500 thermal cycles between −40 °C and 85 °C. These results demonstrate a viable pathway towards inherently stable, high-efficiency perovskite photovoltaics.
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All data supporting the findings of this study are available in the Article and its Supplementary Information. Data are also available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.
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G.L. acknowledges support from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (GRF 15307922, 15310625, JRS N_PolyU567/24, C4005-22Y); RGC Senior Research Fellowship Scheme (SRFS2223-5S01); the Hong Kong Polytechnic University: Sir Sze-yuen Chung Endowed Professorship Fund (8-8480), RISE (1-CDC6); Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Photonic-Thermal-Electrical Energy Materials and Devices (GDSTC number 2019B121205001). N.M. acknowledges support from IMPULZ project number IM-2023-82 of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV-21-0297), and Joint Research Projects V4-Korea number 2023/727/PVKSC. P.S. acknowledges support from the Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV-24-0321) and ITMS project number 313021T081. L.P.S. acknowledges support from the PostdokGrant APD0021, and VEGA 2/0046/23. W.C. and Z.L. acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 52473301 and W2412077); the Fundamental Research Support Program of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (2025BRB016), the State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources (LAPS25001), and the Innovation Project of Optics Valley Laboratory (OVL2025YZ004). M.L. acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, General Program Project (number 52472199), and the Outstanding Youth Fund of the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (number 242300421069). The authors thank Shenzhen HUASUAN Technology Co., Ltd for assistance on theoretical calculations.
These authors contributed equally: Daming Zheng, Tianyin Miao, Zuhong Zhang.
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Research Institute for Smart Energy (RISE), Photonic Research Institute (PRI), the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
Daming Zheng, Tao Zhu, Luyao Wang, Zhiyuan Xu, Patrick Fong, Jie Lv & Gang Li
Center for Advanced Materials and Applications (CEMEA), Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Daming Zheng, Karol Vegso, Gunhee Kim, Peter Siffalovic & Nada Mrkyvkova
Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO) and School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Tianyin Miao, Zonghao Liu & Wei Chen
Optics Valley Laboratory, Hubei, China
Tianyin Miao, Zonghao Liu & Wei Chen
Key Lab for Special Functional Materials of Ministry of Education, National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center for High-Efficiency Display and Lighting Technology, School of Nanoscience and Materials Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center of Nano Functional Materials and Applications, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
Zuhong Zhang & Meng Li
Institute of Physics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Karol Vegso, Sami Ullah, Peter Siffalovic & Nada Mrkyvkova
Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Luyao Wang
Department of Physics, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan
Sami Ullah
Institute of Electrical Engineering, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
Lenka Pribusova Slusna
Department of Mechanical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China
Dingqin Hu
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Berlin, Germany
Antonio Abate
Department of Chemistry, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
Antonio Abate
Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering, University of Naples Federico II. Naples, Naples, Italy
Antonio Abate
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D.Z. and G.L. conceived the idea. G.L., Z.L., M.L., A.A. and L.W. supervised the project. D.Z., T.M. and Z.Z. conceived, designed and conducted most of the experiments. T.Z. and P.F. conducted the in situ UV experiments. K.V., N.M., P.S. and G.K. conducted the in situ/ex situ GIWAXS, PL and X-ray diffraction measurements. D.Z. and L.W. designed and performed the density functional theory calculations. J.L. conducted the TAS measurements. D.Z., Z.Z., L.W., T.M. and W.C. fabricated the perovskite devices. D.H. and Z.X. helped analyse the TAS data. L.P.S. characterized the infrared spectra. A.A. and Z.Z. performed the stability tests. S.U. characterized the time-resolved PL data. G.L., D.Z. and L.W. wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed the results, revised the manuscript and approved the final version.
Correspondence to Luyao Wang, Zonghao Liu, Antonio Abate, Meng Li or Gang Li.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Photonics thanks Yongfang Li and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Zheng, D., Miao, T., Zhang, Z. et al. Omnidirectional ionic locking network for stable perovskite photovoltaics. Nat. Photon. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-026-01918-y
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