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Vol. 18 (2026)

Electronic Blockade of Shunting Pathways via Dual Insulator Contacts for High-Efficiency Wide-Bandgap Perovskite Indoor Photovoltaics

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-026-02225-5
Quanxi Liu
Institute of New Energy Technology, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People’s Republic of China
Yousheng Wang
Institute of New Energy Technology, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People’s Republic of China
Qiaoyan Ma
Institute of New Energy Technology, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People’s Republic of China
Jianzha Zheng
Institute of New Energy Technology, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People’s Republic of China
Yinghui Peng
Institute of New Energy Technology, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People’s Republic of China
Liwei Wang
Institute of New Energy Technology, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People’s Republic of China
Zeyu Chen
Institute of New Energy Technology, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People’s Republic of China
Tianhao Du
Institute of New Energy Technology, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People’s Republic of China
Daxin Xiao
Institute of New Energy Technology, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People’s Republic of China
Jiandong Fan
Institute of New Energy Technology, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People’s Republic of China
Yoon‑Bong Hahn
School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Solar Energy Research Center, Jeonbuk National University, 567 Baekjedaero, Deokjin‑Gu, Jeonju‑Si, Jeollabuk‑Do 54896, Republic of Korea
Yaohua Mai
Institute of New Energy Technology, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Yaohua Mai

yaohuamai@jnu.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 18 (2026), Article Number: 375

Abstract

Perovskite indoor photovoltaics (PIPVs) present great potential for powering Internet-of-Things (IoT)-integrated portable and low-power-consumption wireless electronics, owing to their theoretically high indoor power conversion efficiency (PCE(i)) under natural/artificial lighting conditions. Under low-light irradiance, suppressing shunting paths in PIPVs are of paramount importance to minimize interface defects induced losses in open-circuit voltage (Voc) and fill factor (FF). In this work, we propose a dual insulator contact (DIC) strategy that synergistically mitigates nonradiative recombination and shunting losses: (i) a grain boundary insulator contact (GIC) using insulating polymer poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) to passivate grain boundary defects and (ii) a buried interface insulator contact (BIC) employing a hybrid PMMA/mesoporous alumina ultrathin composite interlayer to reduce heterointerface defects at the perovskite/hole transport layer junction. Leveraging this DIC approach, wide-band gap (WBG)-PIPVs achieve a PCE(i) of 44.36% (a power output of 127.94 µW cm−2) with a high Voc of 1.091 V and FF of 83.97% under a light-emitting diode (LED) (1000 lx, 288.4 µW cm−2, and 2950 K). Remarkably, the devices under LED illumination remain high indoor performance with small Voc and FF deficits even under lower irradiance, delivering PCEs(i) of 43.08% (Voc of 1.064 V and FF of 84.52%) at 600 lx, 40.24% (Voc of 1.050 V and FF of 82.97%) at 400 lx, and 40.94% (Voc of 1.020 V and FF of 82.83%) at 200 lx. The unencapsulated WBG-PIPVs also exhibit robust operational stability under continuous maximum power point tracking in under ambient LED lighting conditions, underscoring their practicality for IoT applications.


Highlights:
1 Dual insulator contacts integrating poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-based grain-boundary passivation and a hybrid PMMA/mesoporous alumina ultrathin composite buried-interface layer.
2 Dual insulator contacts suppress shunting paths and nonradiative recombination in both the wide-band gap (WBG)-perovskite bulk and heterointerfaces.
3 The WBG-Perovskite indoor photovoltaics deliver a power conversion efficiency (i) of 44.36% (power output: 127.94 µW cm−2), with a high open-circuit voltage of 1.091 V and fill factor of 83.97% under 1000 lx light-emitting diode (288.4 µW cm−2, 2950 K).

Keywords

Indoor photovoltaics Wide-bandgap perovskites Dual insulator contacts Shunting paths Defect passivation
Liu, Quanxi, Yousheng Wang, Qiaoyan Ma, Jianzha Zheng, Yinghui Peng, Liwei Wang, Zeyu Chen, Tianhao Du, Daxin Xiao, Jiandong Fan, Yoon‑Bong Hahn, and Yaohua Mai. 2026. “Electronic Blockade of Shunting Pathways via Dual Insulator Contacts for High-Efficiency Wide-Bandgap Perovskite Indoor Photovoltaics”. Nano-Micro Letters 18 (May):375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-026-02225-5.
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