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Vol. 18 (2026)

Moisture-Resistant Scalable Ambient-Air Crystallization of Perovskite Films via Self-Buffered Molecular Migration Strategy

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01851-9
Mei Yang
State Key Laboratory of Wide‑Bandgap Semiconductor Devices and Integrated Technology, Xidian University, 710071 Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
Weidong Zhu
State Key Laboratory of Wide‑Bandgap Semiconductor Devices and Integrated Technology, Xidian University, 710071 Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
Laijun Liang
State Key Laboratory of Wide‑Bandgap Semiconductor Devices and Integrated Technology, Xidian University, 710071 Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
Wenming Chai
State Key Laboratory of Wide‑Bandgap Semiconductor Devices and Integrated Technology, Xidian University, 710071 Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
Xiaomeng Wu
School of Electronic Engineering, Xi’an Shiyou University, 710065 Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
Zeyang Ren
State Key Laboratory of Wide‑Bandgap Semiconductor Devices and Integrated Technology, Xidian University, 710071 Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
Long Zhou
School of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Xidian University, 710126 Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
Dazheng Chen
State Key Laboratory of Wide‑Bandgap Semiconductor Devices and Integrated Technology, Xidian University, 710071 Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
He Xi
School of Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Xidian University, 710126 Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
Chunfu Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Wide‑Bandgap Semiconductor Devices and Integrated Technology, Xidian University, 710071 Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
Jincheng Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Wide‑Bandgap Semiconductor Devices and Integrated Technology, Xidian University, 710071 Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
Yue Hao
State Key Laboratory of Wide‑Bandgap Semiconductor Devices and Integrated Technology, Xidian University, 710071 Xi’an, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Chunfu Zhang

cfzhang@xidian.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 18 (2026), Article Number: 53

Abstract

Ambient-air, moisture-assisted annealing is widely used in fabricating perovskite solar cells (PSCs). However, the inherent sensitivity of perovskite intermediate-phase to moisture—due to fast and spontaneous intermolecular exchange reaction—requires strict control of ambient humidity and immediate thermal annealing treatment, raising manufacturing costs and causing fast nucleation of perovskite films. We report herein a self-buffered molecular migration strategy to slow down the intermolecular exchange reaction by introducing a n–butylammonium bromide shielding layer, which limits moisture diffusion into intermediate-phase film. This further endows the notably wide nucleation time and humidity windows for perovskite crystallization in ambient air. Consequently, the optimized 1.68 eV-bandgap n-i-p structured PSC reaches a record-high reverse-scan (RS) PCE of 22.09%. Furthermore, the versatility and applicability of as-proposed self-buffered molecular migration strategy are certified by employing various shielding materials and 1.53 eV-/1.77 eV-bandgap perovskite materials. The n-i-p structured PSCs based on 1.53 eV- and 1.77 eV-bandgap perovskite films achieve outstanding RS PCEs of 25.23% and 19.09%, respectively, both of which are beyond of the state-of-the-art ambient-air processed PSCs.


Highlights:
1 A self-buffered molecular migration strategy is developed to suppress spontaneous intermolecular exchange between perovskite intermediate phase and ambient moisture.
2 Exceptionally broad nucleation time and humidity tolerance windows are achieved for perovskite crystallization under ambient air conditions. 1.68 eV-bandgap perovskite solar cells (PSCs) reach a record efficiency of 22.09% when processed in 50–60% relative humidity.
3 The strategy is broadly applicable to 1.53 eV- and 1.77 eV-bandgap perovskite films, enabling high-efficiency PSCs via air-based crystallization processing.

Keywords

Perovskite solar cell Ambient-air annealing Intermediate phase Intermolecular exchange High-humidity crystallization
Yang, Mei, Weidong Zhu, Laijun Liang, Wenming Chai, Xiaomeng Wu, Zeyang Ren, Long Zhou, Dazheng Chen, He Xi, Chunfu Zhang, Jincheng Zhang, and Yue Hao. 2025. “Moisture-Resistant Scalable Ambient-Air Crystallization of Perovskite Films via Self-Buffered Molecular Migration Strategy”. Nano-Micro Letters 18 (September):53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-025-01851-9.
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