Abstract
The development of molecule-based selective contacts has boosted the power conversion efficiencies of inverted perovskite solar cells. However, these molecular films, often assembled as monolayer or multiple layers on the substrate, are prone to molecular desorption and structural deformation, limiting the long-term stability of devices. This instability, in essence, originates from the weak contacting structure between the transparent conductive oxide and molecular layer, with a limited interface offering insufficient adhering forces to immobilize the molecules. A general architectural strategy that circumvents this fundamental limitation without compromising electronic functionality is highly demanded, but remains underexplored. We now report a universal architecture of a bulk nano-heterointerface that reconstructed the molecule-based selective layer. The substantially increased chemical interface and strengthened binding force between the molecules and rationally designed nanoscale scaffolds greatly improved the device operational stability, achieving high efficiency. The strategy proved versatile, successfully applied to various molecular systems to enhance device performances, and remained effective in upscaled devices produced via scalable blade coating.
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Acknowledgements
We thank L. Liu, Y. Nie and Z. Yang from the Instrumentation and Service Center for Physical Sciences (ISCPS) and X. Lu, Y. Chen, Z. Chen and Y. Cheng from the Instrumentation and Service Center for Molecular Sciences at Westlake University for assistance in characterizations. J. Xue acknowledges support from the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province of China (grant numbers LR24F040001 and DG25E020001), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 62274146), the Scientific Research Innovation Capability Support Project for Young Faculty (SRICSPYF-ZY2025093), the Central Guidance Funds for Local Science and Technology Development Projects (grant number 2025ZY01012) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. Y.L. acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 625B2166). Y.T. acknowledges a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 624B2117). R.W. acknowledges grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 62474143) and Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province of China (grant numbers LD24E020001 and QKWL25E1301), support from the Key R&D Program of Zhejiang (grant number 2024SSYS0061), Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Intelligent Synthetic Biology (2024ZY01025), Muyuan Laboratory (programme ID 14136022401) and support from the Scientific Research Innovation Capability Support Project for Young Faculty (grant number SRICSPYF-BS2025014). H.-f.W. acknowledges the National Key Instrumentation Development grant by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 21727802).
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J. Xue conceived the idea and supervised the project. Y.L. and J.S. performed the experiments and data analysis under the supervision of J. Xue. K.Z., S.C. and L.J. fabricated the solar cell devices. B.-j.Z. and L.Z. performed the SFG-VS measurements under the supervision of H.-f.W. C.D. and I.Y. conducted the theoretical calculations. Q. Liu synthesized the molecules. Y.T., X.S., L.Y., X.M., Q. Li, R. Li, H.X., J. Xu, J.Z. and D.J. assisted with the characterizations and device fabrication. S.-G.C. performed the cross-sectional KPFM under the supervision of J.-W.L. H.Z. performed the cross-sectional TRPL mapping under the supervision of Z.N. R. Liu, R.W., H.J.Y. and D.Y. provided helpful discussions. J. Xue wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the paper.
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Luo, Y., Shen, J., Zhao, K. et al. Bulk nano-heterointerface secures molecular contacts in perovskite solar cells. Nat. Mater. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02546-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02546-1
