Encapsulation Techniques for Enhanced Stability of Perovskite Solar Cells

Perovskite solar cells have rapidly advanced towards high power conversion efficiencies, yet their sensitivity to moisture, oxygen, heat and mechanical stress has hindered long-term operation. Encapsulation provides a barrier against environmental stressors and mitigates degradation pathways by sealing the active layers within moisture- and oxygen-impermeable materials, while maintaining optical transparency and thermal management. State-of-the-art encapsulation strategies encompass polymer gels, glass-laminates, thin-film barrier coatings and adhesive edge seals. These approaches seek to retard ion migration, suppress lead leakage and manage heat accumulation. Encapsulation must balance low-temperature processing to avoid perovskite damage, strong adhesion to prevent delamination, and compatibility with international stability standards such as damp heat and thermal cycling. Optimised multilayer stacks and novel polymer chemistries have extended operational lifetimes from hundreds to thousands of hours under accelerated ageing, bringing perovskite photovoltaics closer to commercial viability.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have demonstrated a room-temperature, nondestructive encapsulation using a self-crosslinked fluorosilicone polymer gel, which forms a robust barrier without thermal stress to the perovskite. This material promotes efficient heat dissipation and inhibits lead leakage, enabling devices to retain over 95 % of their initial efficiency after prolonged damp heat and thermal cycling tests that meet international standards. Complementing this, comprehensive analyses of degradation pathways have highlighted the roles of moisture ingress, ion migration and thermal accumulation in operational failure. These insights have guided the design of encapsulation stacks that address specific failure modes, ensuring compliance with the International Electrotechnical Commission 61215 damp heat and cycling requirements. Foundational work on hydrophobic poly(p-chloro-xylylene) coatings has further shown that conformal barrier films can passivate perovskite surfaces, prolonging device function for several hundred hours under ambient humidity by retarding water-induced decomposition.

Encapsulation Techniques for Enhanced Stability of Perovskite Solar Cells publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in encapsulation techniques for enhanced stability of perovskite solar cells across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Encapsulation: The process of enclosing perovskite layers within barrier materials to prevent ingress of moisture, oxygen and other degradants.

Perovskite solar cell: A photovoltaic device that uses a light-absorbing metal halide perovskite layer to convert sunlight into electricity.

Power conversion efficiency (PCE): The ratio of electrical power output to incident light power, expressed as a percentage.

Damp heat test: A standard accelerated ageing test conducted at high temperature and humidity to assess device stability.

Thermal cycling: Repeated temperature fluctuations applied to a device to evaluate its mechanical and material resilience under operational stress.

Water vapour transmission rate (WVTR): A measure of the permeability of a barrier material to water vapour, typically expressed in g m⁻² d⁻¹.

References

1. Room temperature nondestructive encapsulation via self-crosslinked fluorosilicone polymer enables damp heat-stable sustainable perovskite solar cells. Nature Communications (2023).
2. Degradation pathways in perovskite solar cells and how to meet international standards. Communications Materials (2022).
3. Enhanced Stability of MAPbI3 Perovskite Solar Cells using Poly(p-chloro-xylylene) Encapsulation. Scientific Reports (2019).
4. Towards operation‐stabilizing perovskite solar cells: Fundamental materials, device designs, and commercial applications. InfoMat (2024).
5. Encapsulation of commercial and emerging solar cells with focus on perovskite solar cells. Solar Energy (2022).
6. Thermosetting Polyurethane Resins as Low-Cost, Easily Scalable, and Effective Oxygen and Moisture Barriers for Perovskite Solar Cells. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2020).
7. Efficient and reliable encapsulation for perovskite/silicon tandem solar modules. Nanoscale (2023).