Abstract
The efficiency–stability trade-off in perovskite solar cells continues to be challenged by issues such as ion migration and defects at grain boundaries and interfaces. Here we address this challenge by an in situ kinetic processing route using a bifunctional spacer, 2-(prop-2-en-1-ylsulfanyl)ethan-1-amine hydrochloride (PYA). Arresting annealing at a metastable stage enables PYA infiltration along widened grain boundaries and incompletely crystallized buried interfaces, whereas deep-ultraviolet activation crosslinks PYA to form a phase-pure 2D ‘nanomesh’ that encapsulates three-dimensional grains. This omnidirectional network enables defect passivation across the surface, bulk and interface; suppresses electrostrictive lattice distortion by over 80%; and reduces iodide migration ratio by more than 55%, linking mechanical reinforcement to operational resilience. Devices deliver a power conversion efficiency of 27.37% (certified, 27.01%) and retain over 90% performance after 2,110 h of 1-sun illumination, over 95% after 2,400 h at 85 °C in a N2 atmosphere, and 97% after 500 thermal cycles between −40 °C and 85 °C. These results demonstrate a viable pathway towards inherently stable, high-efficiency perovskite photovoltaics.
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All data supporting the findings of this study are available in the Article and its Supplementary Information. Data are also available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
G.L. acknowledges support from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (GRF 15307922, 15310625, JRS N_PolyU567/24, C4005-22Y); RGC Senior Research Fellowship Scheme (SRFS2223-5S01); the Hong Kong Polytechnic University: Sir Sze-yuen Chung Endowed Professorship Fund (8-8480), RISE (1-CDC6); Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Photonic-Thermal-Electrical Energy Materials and Devices (GDSTC number 2019B121205001). N.M. acknowledges support from IMPULZ project number IM-2023-82 of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV-21-0297), and Joint Research Projects V4-Korea number 2023/727/PVKSC. P.S. acknowledges support from the Slovak Research and Development Agency (APVV-24-0321) and ITMS project number 313021T081. L.P.S. acknowledges support from the PostdokGrant APD0021, and VEGA 2/0046/23. W.C. and Z.L. acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 52473301 and W2412077); the Fundamental Research Support Program of Huazhong University of Science and Technology (2025BRB016), the State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources (LAPS25001), and the Innovation Project of Optics Valley Laboratory (OVL2025YZ004). M.L. acknowledges support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, General Program Project (number 52472199), and the Outstanding Youth Fund of the Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province (number 242300421069). The authors thank Shenzhen HUASUAN Technology Co., Ltd for assistance on theoretical calculations.
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D.Z. and G.L. conceived the idea. G.L., Z.L., M.L., A.A. and L.W. supervised the project. D.Z., T.M. and Z.Z. conceived, designed and conducted most of the experiments. T.Z. and P.F. conducted the in situ UV experiments. K.V., N.M., P.S. and G.K. conducted the in situ/ex situ GIWAXS, PL and X-ray diffraction measurements. D.Z. and L.W. designed and performed the density functional theory calculations. J.L. conducted the TAS measurements. D.Z., Z.Z., L.W., T.M. and W.C. fabricated the perovskite devices. D.H. and Z.X. helped analyse the TAS data. L.P.S. characterized the infrared spectra. A.A. and Z.Z. performed the stability tests. S.U. characterized the time-resolved PL data. G.L., D.Z. and L.W. wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed the results, revised the manuscript and approved the final version.
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Zheng, D., Miao, T., Zhang, Z. et al. Omnidirectional ionic locking network for stable perovskite photovoltaics. Nat. Photon. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-026-01918-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-026-01918-y
