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Non-fullerene electron-transporting materials for high-performance and stable perovskite solar cells

Nature Materials volume 24, pages 770–777 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

The electron-transporting material (ETM) is a key component of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) optimizing electron extraction from perovskite to cathode. Fullerenes, specifically C60 and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), have been used as the benchmark ETMs for inverted PSCs. However, C60 is restricted to thermal evaporation, and PCBM suffers from poor photothermal stability and suboptimal electron transport, limiting their PSC applications. Here a solution-processable non-fullerene ETM, cyano-functionalized bithiophene imide dimer (CNI2)-based polymer (PCNI2-BTI), holds multiple advantages, including excellent photothermal stability, efficient electron transport and improved interaction with the perovskite layer. Consequently, inverted PSCs incorporating PCNI2-BTI deliver an outstanding power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 26.0% (certified 25.4%) and remarkable operational stability, with a T80 approaching 1,300 h under ISOS-L-3. Moreover, we synthesize three additional CNI2-based polymer ETMs, yielding an average PCE of >25% in PSCs. These findings demonstrate unprecedented potential of non-fullerene ETMs enabling high-performance and stable PSCs.

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Fig. 1: Chemical structures and physicochemical properties of ETMs.
Fig. 2: Thermal properties, electron-transporting characteristics and microstructures of PCBM and two non-fullerene ETMs.
Fig. 3: Surface morphology and electron dynamics of perovskite/ETM interface.
Fig. 4: Interfacial interaction and defect passivation effect.
Fig. 5: Photovoltaic performance and long-term stability of PSCs.

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Additional data can be obtained from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

K.F. acknowledges financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22275078). X.G. is grateful for financial support from the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission (KCXST20221021111413031 and JCYJ20220818100617037). A.F. acknowledges support by the US Office of Naval Research Contract N00014-24-1-2110. Q.L. acknowledges financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22305111). H.Y.W. acknowledges financial support from the National Research Foundation of Korea (RS-2024-00334832).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Kui Feng, Guoliang Wang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, China

    Kui Feng, Qing Lian, Sergio Gámez-Valenzuela, Bolin Li, Riqing Ding, Wanli Yang, Keli Wang, Jie Zeng, Yong Zhang, Baomin Xu & Xugang Guo

  2. School of Physics and the University of Sydney Nano Institute (Sydney Nano), The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Guoliang Wang & Anita Ho-Baillie

  3. Department of Chemistry, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Sang Young Jeong & Han Young Woo

  4. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Antonio Facchetti

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  1. Kui Feng
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Contributions

K.F. and X.G. conceived the idea. K.F. conducted the material synthesis and characterizations and analysed the data. K.F., G.W., Q.L. and B.L. performed or helped with device fabrications. S.G.-V., R.D. and K.W. conducted the DFT calculations. W.Y. carried out AFM and OTFT measurements and analysis of data. S.Y.J. and H.Y.W. carried out GIWAXS measurements and analysed the data. J.Z. and B.X. performed TAS measurements and analysed the data. Y.Z. and A.H.-B. offered insights into the drafting of the paper. A.F. and X.G. directed and supervised the project. K.F. wrote the first draft paper. K.F., Q.L., A.F. and X.G. revised and finalized the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kui Feng, Qing Lian, Antonio Facchetti or Xugang Guo.

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Feng, K., Wang, G., Lian, Q. et al. Non-fullerene electron-transporting materials for high-performance and stable perovskite solar cells. Nat. Mater. 24, 770–777 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02163-4

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