Mitigating Stress‐Induced Nonphotoactive Phase Transition Through Sodium Sulfonate Engineering for Stable and Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

ABSTRACT Formamidinium lead triiodide (FAPbI 3 ) perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted significant attention due to their outstanding optoelectronic properties. However, their long‐term stability remains limited by lattice strain‐induced transition from the photoactive α‐phase to the nonphotoactive δ‐phase. In this work, first‐principles calculations reveal that the incorporation of Na + into interstitial sites between adjacent FA + cations significantly reduces the formation energy of the α‐phase, thereby promoting its thermodynamic stabilization. Then, experimental results confirm that the introduction of 2 mol% Na + effectively alleviates lattice strain while simultaneously suppressing δ phase. Moreover, the accompanying sulfonate groups interacting with PbI 2 can regulate the crystallization and improve film quality. As a result, the optimized PSC achieved power conversion efficiency (PCE) as high as 26.67% (certificated 26.44%), ranking among the highest reported for the n‐i‐p structured devices. Notably, the bare device without encapsulation retained over 90% of its initial efficiency after continuous heating at 85°C for 1200 h and maintained 80% after 800 h continuous illumination. This study demonstrates that metal cation doping is an effective strategy for stabilizing the perovskite lattice and enhancing long‐term operational stability of perovskite‐based optoelectronic devices.

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Publication Details

Journal
Angewandte Chemie
Published
2026-08-05
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.2425823
Primary Topic
Perovskite Materials and Applications
Type
article
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article

Mitigating Stress‐Induced Nonphotoactive Phase Transition Through Sodium Sulfonate Engineering for Stable and Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

Liuwen Tian, Bolong Huang, Alex K.‐Y. Jen, Sai‐Wing Tsang et al.
Angewandte Chemie
Perovskite Materials and Applications
article

Mitigating Stress‐Induced Nonphotoactive Phase Transition Through Sodium Sulfonate Engineering for Stable and Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

Liuwen Tian, Bolong Huang, Alex K.‐Y. Jen, Sai‐Wing Tsang, Jiaxue You, Mingzi Sun, Yunfan Wang, Rui Wang, Yiran Tao, Jinghao Ge, Hao‐Chung Kuo, Zhihuan Tang, Lu Zhang, Xinhui Lu, Shengzhong (Frank) Liu, Ying Wang
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Formamidinium lead triiodide (FAPbI 3 ) perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted significant attention due to their outstanding optoelectronic properties. However, their long‐term stability remains limited by lattice strain‐induced transition from the photoactive α‐phase to the nonphotoactive δ‐phase. In this work, first‐principles calculations reveal that the incorporation of Na + into interstitial sites between adjacent FA + cations significantly reduces the formation energy of the α‐phase, thereby promoting its thermodynamic stabilization. Then, experimental results confirm that the introduction of 2 mol% Na + effectively alleviates lattice strain while simultaneously suppressing δ phase. Moreover, the accompanying sulfonate groups interacting with PbI 2 can regulate the crystallization and improve film quality. As a result, the optimized PSC achieved power conversion efficiency (PCE) as high as 26.67% (certificated 26.44%), ranking among the highest reported for the n‐i‐p structured devices. Notably, the bare device without encapsulation retained over 90% of its initial efficiency after continuous heating at 85°C for 1200 h and maintained 80% after 800 h continuous illumination. This study demonstrates that metal cation doping is an effective strategy for stabilizing the perovskite lattice and enhancing long‐term operational stability of perovskite‐based optoelectronic devices.

Angewandte Chemie
City University of Hong Kong (HK), Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK), Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (CN), Westlake University (CN), ON Semiconductor (Taiwan) (TW), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Shaanxi Normal University (CN)
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 16%
Perovskite Materials and Applications
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