Scalable ambient fabrication of single-junction and perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells – Nature

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Nature Sustainability (2026)
Transitioning high-efficiency perovskite solar cells from laboratory scale to industrial production requires scalable fabrication under ambient conditions without sacrificing performance or durability. Here we report ambient-air, blade-coated perovskite solar cells and modules that achieve power conversion efficiencies of 26.6% (26.5% certified) and 23.2%, respectively. These devices demonstrate exceptional stability, retaining 99.8% of their initial power conversion efficiency after 1,200 hours of continuous light soaking. This breakthrough is enabled by a hole-transporting co-polymer, PNCC, which synergistically integrates triarylamine and carbazole phosphonic acid units. Comprehensive spectroscopic, spectrometric and morphological analyses reveal the mechanisms underlying PNCC’s superior functionality. Furthermore, leveraging PNCC’s high conductivity and morphological uniformity, we demonstrate monolithic perovskite–silicon tandem cells with a certified efficiency of 33.0%. This work establishes a benchmark for ambient-processed, stable photovoltaics, providing a viable, scalable pathway towards sustainable solar energy harvesting.
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All data generated or analysed in this study are provided in the published article and its Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with this paper.
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S.C. discloses support from National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2023YFB3809700), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 52372196), Jiangsu Double Innovation Team Program and the open research fund of Suzhou Laboratory (grant no. SZLAB-1308-2024-TS007). W.W. discloses support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 22534005). A.F. discloses support of National Science Foundation (grant no. 2223922) and the Hightower Family. H.Y. appreciates the support from the Basic and Applied Research Major Program of Guangdong Province (grant no. 2019B030302007), the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (research fellow scheme RFS2021-6S0) and Tencent Xplorer Prize.
These authors contributed equally: Lingyuan Wang, Xiaodong Hu.
State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, MOE Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Materials & Technology, School of Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Lingyuan Wang, Xiaodong Hu, Yangyang Liu, Tianxiao Liu, Yunjie Dou, Xiaoyu Shi & Shangshang Chen
State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, School of Chemistry, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Ben Niu & Wei Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
Evan M. Wilson & Antonio Facchetti
Chint New Energy Technology Co. LTD., Haining, China
Zhen Jia, Koucheng Chen, Shumao Wang & Zijia Li
Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
He Yan
College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Qingdong Zheng
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S.C. conceived and designed the research. L.W. synthesized PNCC. X.H. fabricated and measured the PSCs. B.N. carried out EL characterization. Y.L. performed laser scribing. T.L. fabricated the perovskite modules. E.M.W. assisted with the material characterization. Z.J., K.C. and S.W. fabricated the perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells. Y.D. carried out the characterizations related to trap states. X.S. assisted with the device fabrication. Q.Z. supervised the optoelectronic characterizaiton. Z.L. supervised the tandem cell fabrication. W.W. supervised EL characterization. S.C., H.Y. and A.F. wrote the manuscript with inputs from all co-authors. All authors discussed the results and reviewed the manuscript.
Correspondence to Zijia Li, He Yan, Wei Wang, Antonio Facchetti or Shangshang Chen.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Sustainability thanks Salvatore Valastro and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Wang, L., Hu, X., Niu, B. et al. Scalable ambient fabrication of single-junction and perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells. Nat Sustain (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-026-01916-6
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