Designed Lewis Acid–Base Passivation for High Performance Perovskite Solar Cells Afna Manaf, Hiba Shahulhameed, Bhabani Sankar Swain, Shengzhong (Frank) Liu, Adel Najar Advanced Functional Materials, 2026 Silicon's high cost and long energy payback time remain major barriers to the global expansion of solar power. In contrast, metal–halide perovskites offer abundant, solution‐processable absorbers, and have achieved efficiencies of 25%–30%, positioning them as strong competitors to silicon. However, commercialization of is hindered by instability and performance fluctuations arising from defects such as uncoordinated Pb 2 + , halide vacancies, and grain‐boundary traps within the perovskite and adjacent layers. This review provides information on the current advances in Lewis acid/base chemistry for the perovskite layer, the electron transport layer, and the hole transport layer; it includes multiple examples of how the ability to modify molecular pairs helps to passivate grain boundaries, reduce recombination, and create interfacial layers that repel moisture and block ion movement. The review closes with a roadmap for researchers seeking to advance the efficiency and stability limits of perovskite photovoltaics by bridging the gap between fundamental chemistry and device engineering.
Microscopic insights into the structural and functional properties of organic perovskite materials and devices Smruti Medha Mishra, Bhabani Swain, Abduk Kareem K. Soopy, Naga Venkateswar Rao Nulakani, Shanavas Shajahan, et al. Materials for Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 2025 Perovskite materials have emerged as a focal point of research due to their exceptional optoelectronic properties and promising applications in photovoltaics, light-emitting diodes, and photodetectors. A thorough microscopic understanding of these materials is crucial for elucidating their intrinsic properties, defect dynamics, and interface behaviors. This paper offers a comprehensive review of advanced microscopic techniques utilized to investigate perovskite materials and devices, with a focus on their structural, morphological, and performance characteristics. The effects of synthesis conditions and electron beam-induced damage in TEM are specifically examined since they may change the actual nature of perovskite materials by causing structural deterioration, phase changes, and defect development. This paper highlights the advantages and limitations of these techniques, offering insights into optimizing imaging conditions to enhance the study of perovskites. Ultimately, improving synthesis methods, defect engineering, and imaging strategies is key to advancing perovskite-based optoelectronic devices.
Zn–Porphyrin Antisolvent Engineering-Enhanced Grain Boundary Passivation for High-Performance Perovskite Solar Cell Abdul Kareem Kalathil Soopy, Bhaskar Parida, S. Assa Aravindh, Hiba SahulHameed, Bhabani Sankar Swain, et al. Solar Rrl, 2024 Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) represent a promising and rapidly evolving technology in the field of photovoltaics due to their easy fabrication, low‐cost materials, and remarkable efficiency improvements over a relatively short period. However, the grain boundaries in the polycrystalline films exhibit a high density of defects, resulting in not only heightened reactivity to oxygen and water but also hampered charge transport and long‐term stability. Herein, an approach involving Zn‐porphyrin (Zn‐PP)‐upgraded antisolvent treatment to enhance the grain size and meanwhile passivate grain boundary defects in FA0.95MA0.05PbI2.85Br0.15 perovskites is presented. The Zn‐PP molecules significantly improve structural and optical properties, effectively mitigating defects and promoting carrier transport at the perovskite/hole transport layer interface. The density functional theory simulation confirms that Zn‐PP forms a strong chemical bonding with the perovskite surface. With Zn‐PP passivation, the total density of state shifts to higher‐energy regions with molecular adsorption, especially near the valence and conduction band edges, indicating that there is an increase in conducting properties of the surface with molecular adsorption. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of PSCs increases significantly as a result of this improvement, rising from 15.38% to 19.11%. Moreover, unencapsulated PSCs treated with Zn‐PP exhibit outstanding stability, retaining over 91% of their initial PCE.
Selective Spin Dewetting for Perovskite Solar Modules Fabricated on Engineered Au/ITO Substrates Son Singh, Rahim Abdur, Md. Abdul Kuddus Sheikh, Bhabani Sankar Swain, Jindong Song, et al. Nanomaterials, 2024 We introduce a novel method for fabricating perovskite solar modules using selective spin-coating on various Au/ITO patterned substrates. These patterns were engineered for two purposes: (1) to enhance selectivity of monolayers primarily self-assembling on the Au electrode, and (2) to enable seamless interconnection between cells through direct contact of the top electrode and the hydrophobic Au connection electrode. Utilizing SAMs-treated Au/ITO, we achieved sequential selective deposition of the electron transport layer (ETL) and the perovskite layer on the hydrophilic amino-terminated ITO, while the hole transport layer (HTL) was deposited on the hydrophobic CH3-terminated Au connection electrodes. Importantly, our approach had a negligible impact on the series resistance of the solar cells, as evidenced by the measured specific contact resistivity of the multilayers. A significant outcome was the production of a six-cell series-connected solar module with a notable average PCE of 8.32%, providing a viable alternative to the conventional laser scribing technique.
Combined Ultraviolet Ozone and Thermally Activated Formamidinium Iodide Solution to Fabricate Large Grain FAPbI2.6Br0.3Cl0.1 Films Bhabani Sankar Swain, Son Singh, Rahim Abdur, Jae-Hun Kim, Jaegab Lee ACS Omega, 2023 In this report, we report the fabrication of a large grain and high crystallinity perovskite film by combined ultraviolet-ozone (UVO) and thermal treatment of formamidinium iodide solution during the fabrication of formamidinium lead halide (FAPbI2.6Br0.3Cl0.1) films by a two-step deposition method. In this process, lead halide films were treated with UVO-treated FAI at different times. In addition, we have observed that hot-casting of UVO-assisted FAI nucleates the α-FAPbI3 phase in as-prepared films. Again, we observed that the annealed hot-cast UVO-assisted FAI increased the grain size and crystallinity in the films. It was observed that the perovskite film fabricated using 10 min UVO-treated FAI solution shows the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 17.74%. Furthermore, the perovskite film fabricated with the hot-cast at 120 °C with the 10 min UVO-treated FAI solution improved the PCE to 19.22%. This finding would help with fabrication of large grain, smooth, uniform, and pinhole perovskite films by combining UVO and thermally assisted FAI solution.
Sulfur-Mediated Synthesis of Spherical Nickel Nanoparticles in a Chemical Vapor Reactor Yong-Su Jo, Mansurbek Abdullaev, Gwang-Hwa Jin, Bhabani Sankar Swain, Byongpil Lee, et al. ACS Omega, 2022 In this study, we investigated the effect of the sulfur content in the NiCl2 precursor on the shape of nickel nanoparticles (Ni-NPs) prepared by chemical vapor synthesis. We obtained spherical Ni-NPs when using anhydrous NiCl2 mixed with NiSO4 or Na2SO4 with a molar ratio of 0.002 as precursors without changing any other process parameters whereas faceted Ni-NPs when using only anhydrous NiCl2 as a precursor. First-principles calculations supported experimental results, which showed that NiSO4-mixed NiCl2 and Na2SO4-mixed NiCl2 precursors favored the growth of spherical NPs.
