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Nature Nanotechnology (2026)
Perovskite solar modules require hole-selective layers that combine efficient charge extraction, interfacial uniformity and scalable processing. Poly(triarylamine) (PTAA) is widely used in high-performance inverted perovskite photovoltaics, but its nanoscale crystallization and aggregation on indium tin oxide can disrupt film continuity, increase interfacial recombination and limit module stability. Here we show that 4-fluorobenzylphosphonic acid (4FBPA) modifies the surface of indium tin oxide to induce nanoscale amorphization of PTAA, forming a uniform sub-10-nm hole-selective layer. The molecule binds to indium tin oxide through a dehydration reaction, tunes the work function and surface free energy of the photoanode, and improves energy-level alignment with PTAA. The resulting amorphous PTAA film shows enhanced conductivity and hole extraction, suppresses non-radiative recombination at the buried interface and promotes more uniform perovskite growth. Inverted perovskite solar cells reach a power conversion efficiency of 26.63%, while blade-coated modules achieve a certified quasi-steady-state efficiency of 23.01%. The modules retain 95.9% of their initial efficiency after 2,600 hours of maximum-power-point operation under 1-sun illumination at 65 ± 5 °C in nitrogen. These results identify nanoscale amorphization of polymeric hole-selective layers as a route to efficient and stable inverted perovskite photovoltaics.
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All data are available in the main text or Supplementary Information. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to the corresponding authors (S.Y., K.Z. and O.M.B.).
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The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the US Government. The US Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for US Government purposes. We acknowledge the Supercomputing Laboratory at KAUST for computational resources.
This work was supported by Saudi Aramco and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). S.Y. and K.Z. acknowledge support related to device fabrication, characterization and testing from the Perovskite Enabled Tandems programme, funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Solar Energy Technologies Office. S.Y. and K.Z. disclose support for this work from the National Laboratory of the Rockies for the US Department of Energy (contract number DE-AC36-08GO28308).
These authors contributed equally: Hongwei Zhu, Bingyao Shao, Zhongjin Shen.
Center for Renewable Energy and Storage Technologies (CREST), Division of Physical Science and Engineering (PSE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Hongwei Zhu, Bingyao Shao, Jun Yin, Shanshan Zhang, Renqian Zhou, Luis Gutiérrez-Arzaluz, Mutalifu Abulikemu, Omar F. Mohammed & Osman M. Bakr
School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Zhongjin Shen & Marina Freitag
Imaging and Characterization Core Lab, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Mohamed Nejib Hedhili, Youyou Yuan & Qingxiao Wang
Carbon Management Division, Saudi Aramco Research and Development Center, Dhahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Aqil Jamal
Aramco Research Center (ARC), Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Issam Gereige
Chemistry and Nanoscience Center, National Laboratory of the Rockies, Golden, CO, USA
Shuai You & Kai Zhu
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H.Z., B.S. and Z.S. contributed equally to this work. O.M.B. and K.Z. directed and supervised the research. O.M.B., K.Z., H.Z., B.S., S.Y. and Z.S. conceptualized and designed the experiments. H.Z., B.S. and S.Y. performed device fabrication, characterization and evaluation. J.Y. carried out the DFT calculations. S.Z. calculated the QFLS. R.Z. conducted the SEM and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) characterizations. M.N.H. performed the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. Y.Y. characterized the GIWAXS. Q.W. conducted the cryo-focused ion beam (FIB)-TEM and EELS measurements and analysis. L.G.-A. conducted time-resolved PL and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy measurements. M.A., A.J., I.G., M.F. and O.F.M. provided guidance and expertise. H.Z., B.S., S.Y., Z.S., K.Z. and O.M.B. wrote the paper. All authors participated in discussions of the results and paper review.
Correspondence to Shuai You, Kai Zhu or Osman M. Bakr.
O.M.B. is a founder of Quantum Solutions, a company specializing in the development of optoelectronic devices. The other authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Nanotechnology thanks Nam-Gyu Park, Atsushi Wakamiya and Yixin Zhao 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 Notes 1–3, Figs. 1–33 and Tables 1–6.
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Zhu, H., Shao, B., Shen, Z. et al. Nanoscale amorphization of poly(triarylamine) for efficient and stable inverted perovskite photovoltaics. Nat. Nanotechnol. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-026-02207-z
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