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Additive-assisted perovskite crystallization on industrial TOPCon silicon for tandem solar cells with improved efficiency

Nature Energy (2026)Cite this article

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Abstract

Thin silicon wafers used in tunnel oxide passivated contact tandem solar cells have reduced thermal mass and higher thermal conductivity, which accelerate heat transfer during perovskite subcell deposition. This rapid heat transfer induces fast crystallization of the perovskite layer, compromising film quality and tandem performance. Here we introduce 2-mercaptobenzothiazole, which exhibits dual-mode binding with perovskite organic cations, to modulate crystallization dynamics. This approach improves morphological uniformity, eliminates voids and suppresses halide segregation, while reducing non-radiative recombination and lowering the trap-assisted recombination rate from 3.2 × 105 to 4.3 × 104 cm s−1. The two-terminal monolithic perovskite/tunnel oxide passivated contact tandem cell achieves a certified stabilized power conversion efficiency of 32.76% and retains 91% of its initial efficiency after 1,700 h of continuous operation. This work uncovers a previously overlooked perovskite crystallization issue on industrial silicon wafers, providing critical insights for integrating perovskite solar cells into mainstream silicon technology.

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Fig. 1: Thermal properties, crystallization dynamics and morphological comparison of perovskite films on glass and c-Si substrates.
Fig. 2: Mechanistic insights into organic control via ligand interaction with FA and its impact on crystallization dynamics.
Fig. 3: Morphological, optical and optoelectronic characterizations of perovskite films for control and target samples.
Fig. 4: Device architecture, performance and stability evaluation of perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available within the Article and its Supplementary Information.

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Acknowledgements

Y.H. acknowledges the support from Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) under its Materials Technology Cluster Industrial Research Grant (M23M6c0108). Q.Z., R.G., S.L., N.L., Z.S., X.G., H.L., Z.D., J.C., Y.-D.W., R.L., X.W., Z.J., L.K.L., D.L. and Y.H. are affiliated with the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), a research institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS). SERIS is supported by the National University of Singapore (NUS), the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF), the Energy Market Authority of Singapore (EMA) and the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). This work was supported in part by the BL14B1 beamline of Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF), Shanghai, China. We would like to acknowledge that computational work involved in this research work is partially supported by NUS IT’s Research Computing group under grant number NUSREC-HPC-00001.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Qilin Zhou, Renjun Guo, Shunchang Liu, Nengxu Li, Menglei Xu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Qilin Zhou, Shunchang Liu, Nengxu Li, Zhuojie Shi, Xiao Guo, Haoming Liang, Zijing Dong, Jinxi Chen, Yu-Duan Wang, Ran Luo, Xi Wang, Zhenrong Jia & Yi Hou

  2. Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Qilin Zhou, Renjun Guo, Shunchang Liu, Nengxu Li, Zhuojie Shi, Xiao Guo, Haoming Liang, Zijing Dong, Jinxi Chen, Yu-Duan Wang, Ran Luo, Xi Wang, Zhenrong Jia, Ling Kai Lee, Donny Lai & Yi Hou

  3. School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China

    Shunchang Liu

  4. Zhejiang Jinko Solar Co. Ltd., Jiaxing, China

    Menglei Xu, Xinyu Zhang, Jungan Wang & Jie Yang

  5. Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Advanced Tandem Photovoltaic Technology, Jiaxing, China

    Menglei Xu, Xinyu Zhang & Jungan Wang

  6. Shanghai Jinko Green Energy Enterprise Management Co. Ltd., Shanghai, China

    Xinyu Zhang & Hao Jin

  7. School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China

    Xianyuan Jiang

  8. Department of Mechanical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Lu Wang

  9. Photon etc. Ltd, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Laura-Isabelle Dion-Bertrand

  10. Department of Applied Chemistry and Institute of Molecular Science, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Chun-Hsiao Kuan, Sung-Fu Hung & Eric Wei-Guang Diau

  11. Center for Emergent Functional Matter Science, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Chun-Hsiao Kuan, Sung-Fu Hung & Eric Wei-Guang Diau

  12. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Wentao Yan

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  1. Qilin Zhou
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Contributions

Q.Z. and Y.H. conceived the idea and designed the experiments. Y.H. directed and supervised the project. M.X., J.W., X.Z., J.Y. and H.J. fabricated the Si bottom cells. Q.Z., M.X., J.W., X.Z., J.Y. and H.J. fabricated the perovskite tandem solar cells. Q.Z. conducted film fabrication and characterizations. X.J., C.-H.K., S.-F.H. and E.W.-G.D. conducted in situ PL and GIWAXS measurements. L.W. and W.Y. performed thermal simulation. Z.S., R.L. and Z.J. conducted NMR measurement, ESP and DFT calculations. X.G., H.L., Z.D., J.C., Y.-D.W. and X.W. conducted confocal PL, SEM, XPS and KPFM measurements. Q.Z., R.G. and L.-I.D.-B. conducted TRPL and hyperspectral measurements. D.L. and L.K.L. performed tandem device encapsulation. Q.Z. and R.G. wrote the original manuscript. Q.Z., R.G., S.L., N.L. and Y.H. reviewed and edited the paper. All authors read and commented on the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xinyu Zhang or Yi Hou.

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Competing interests

Y.H. is the founder of Singfilm Solar, a company commercializing perovskite photovoltaics. M.X., J.W., X.Z., J.Y. and H.J are employees of Zhejiang Jinko Solar Co. Ltd. L.-I.D.-B. is an employee of Photon etc. Ltd. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Energy thanks Eike Koehnenand, Lars Korte, Sang Il Seok and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Zhou, Q., Guo, R., Liu, S. et al. Additive-assisted perovskite crystallization on industrial TOPCon silicon for tandem solar cells with improved efficiency. Nat Energy (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-026-02010-z

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