Conformal oxides decouple chemical stability and energetics at NiO x /perovskite interfaces
Nickel oxide (NiO x ) is a common hole transport layer (HTL) in perovskite photovoltaics, but the chemical reactivity of NiOx surfaces accelerates degradation when contacting perovskites. We developed an ultrathin, conformal tin oxide (SnO x ) interlayer to suppress interfacial reactivity between NiO x and perovskite. SnO x is typically an electron transport layer, but we show that the energy alignment can be modified for hole extraction using molecules with dipoles. This synergy yielded high efficiency in perovskite photovoltaic devices and showed an ~10x improvement in T 90 lifetime in open-circuit conditions under AM1.5G at 65°C. This structure also improves resilience to thermomechanical durability, as minimodules retained 95.7% of their initial performance after 1000 thermal cycles (−65° to 85°C), highlighting the importance of interfaces for robust perovskite photovoltaic modules.
Authors
- Laura T. Schelhas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2299-1864)
- Kelly Schutt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1118-9238)
- Ryan A. DeCrescent (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3219-7736)
- Shuai You (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1007-1446)
- Joseph J. Berry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3874-3582)
- Benjia Dou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6038-5561)
- Duong Nguyen Minh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9244-9432)
- Joseph M. Luther (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4054-8244)
- Melissa Davis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0392-5610)
- Tianran Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7332-8208)
- Rosemary C. Bramante (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1821-1936)
- Adam Lorenz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1193-586X)
- Michael David McGehee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9609-9030)
- Chenchao Xie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5128-7780)
- Ross A. Kerner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3692-6820)
- Mirzo Mirzokarimov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9242-3446)
- Kai Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0908-3909)
- Michael Owen‐Bellini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4551-8124)
- Axel F. Palmstrom (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6633-209X)
- Christian Vélez
- Manuel A. Rodriguez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-3343-1753)
- Todd Russell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4292-7213)
- Marc J. Migliozzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6540-3925)
Institutions
- National Laboratory of the Rockies (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Cubic (United States) (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science
- Published
- 2026-09-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aei2836
- Primary Topic
- Perovskite Materials and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00