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How Lead-Carboxylate Passivation Helped Perovskite Modules Reach 22% Efficiency at Meter Scale
Published online in Nature on August 12, 2026, the team reported a 0.72 m² single junction perovskite module with 22.0% certified full area efficiency and 158.4 W steady state output. The process combined 2 methoxyethanol, 1,3 dioxolane and dimethyl sulfoxide with vacuum assisted crystallization, then applied chemic...
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Key takeaways
- Published online in Nature on August 12, 2026, the team reported a 0.72 m² single junction perovskite module with 22.0% certified full area efficiency and 158.4 W steady state output.
- The process combined 2 methoxyethanol, 1,3 dioxolane and dimethyl sulfoxide with vacuum assisted crystallization, then applied chemically stable lead carboxylates to a formamidinium iodide rich surface.
- A smaller 810 cm² module reached 24.0% certified efficiency, while a reported maximum power point test retained 96% of initial efficiency after 2,200 hours; the available reports do not provide a complete head to head...
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openai.comCreate a landscape editorial hero image for this Studio Global article: What did the Nanjing University team led by Xiao Ke and Hairen Tan, working with Renshine, achieve in their Nature paper published online on. Article summary: The team demonstrated a commercially relevant, meter-scale single-junction perovskite module: a 0.72 m² module certified at 22.0% full-area efficiency and delivering 158.4 W steady-state output. It is a major scale-up re. Topic tags: general, education, general web, academic, user generated. Style: premium digital editorial illustration, source-backed research mood, clean composition, high detail, modern web publication hero. Use reference image context only for broad subject, composition, and topical grounding; do not copy the exact image. Avoid: logos, brand marks, copyrighted characters, real person likenesses, fake screenshots, UI text, readable text, water
The Nanjing University team led by Xiao Ke and Hairen Tan, working with Renshine, reported a significant scale-up result for perovskite photovoltaics in a Nature paper published online on August 12, 2026. Their lead-carboxylate passivation strategy produced a 0.72 m² single-junction module with 22.0% certified full-area efficiency and 158.4 W of steady-state output. 10
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The achievement is important because it addresses the gap between high-performing small laboratory cells and large modules that can be manufactured and tested under formal reliability standards. However, the evidence provided supports the core module results more clearly than several of the broader field-performance and historical comparisons associated with the work.
The process: a ternary solvent system and vacuum-assisted crystallization
The reported fabrication route began with a ternary precursor-solvent formulation containing:
- 2-methoxyethanol
- 1,3-dioxolane
- Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)
The solvent system was combined with vacuum-assisted crystallization to form the perovskite film. According to the available Nanjing University account, this process spontaneously created a surface layer enriched in formamidinium iodide (FAI), described as a protective base layer. Lead carboxylates were then applied as the surface passivator. 1
This two-stage design is central to the result: the solvent and crystallization process prepare the film surface, while the lead-carboxylate treatment is used to passivate defects and improve the interface between the perovskite and the adjoining charge-transport layers. Reports on the work identify lead dioleate, written as Pb(OA)₂, among the lead-carboxylate passivators used in the modules. 5
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The reported module results
The team reported two headline efficiency results at different module sizes:
- 24.0% certified power-conversion efficiency on an 810 cm² aperture-area module.
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- 22.0% certified full-area efficiency on a 0.72 m² module measuring 1.2 m by 0.6 m.
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The 0.72 m² module also produced 158.4 W of steady-state electrical power under standard test conditions. 5
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The distinction between the two area measurements matters. The 24.0% figure applies to the smaller module’s aperture area, while the 22.0% result is the larger module’s full-area efficiency. Presenting them separately avoids treating unlike measurements as though they were directly interchangeable.
Why the passivation strategy matters for large modules
Perovskite films contain defects and chemically vulnerable interfaces that can contribute to charge recombination and performance loss. Applying a passivating material across a small device is easier than achieving consistent coverage over a sheet approaching a square metre.
The available reports describe the lead-carboxylate treatment as chemically different from conventional ammonium-based passivation. Rather than simply forming a superficial coating, the lead carboxylates were reported to react with the perovskite surface and form chemical bonds. The same reports say the approach improved interfacial energy alignment, charge transport and the uniformity of treatment across large-area modules. 15
Those claims provide a plausible explanation for why the method could support scale-up, but the supplied source excerpts do not contain a complete quantitative comparison against ammonium-halide passivators. They also do not provide a full set of degradation values separately measured under humidity, heat, continuous illumination and thermal cycling. The strongest evidence is therefore the demonstrated module performance and reliability qualification, not a fully documented superiority claim across every stress condition.
Reliability results and durability evidence
The modules reportedly passed the full IEC 61215 and IEC 61730 reliability-test sequences. These qualifications are a significant part of the result because they move the report beyond efficiency measurement alone and address standardized module reliability and safety testing. 1
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A report on the study says the modules retained 96% of their initial efficiency after 2,200 hours of maximum-power-point tracking. 4 That is a useful durability indicator, but the supplied material does not specify enough detail to reconstruct every test condition or compare the result directly with a conventional silicon module tested under identical conditions.
What the evidence does—and does not—show about field generation
Some accounts of the work state that large ground-mounted demonstrations produced higher generation per unit capacity than co-located crystalline-silicon modules. 11
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The available evidence here does not substantiate the detailed March–May 2026 comparison requested for a 1 MW perovskite installation versus a 3.5 MW silicon installation. It also does not provide the monthly per-capacity generation figures or establish how any advantage varied quantitatively with temperature and light intensity.
The defensible conclusion is narrower: the supplied sources report field-generation evidence favoring the perovskite modules on a per-capacity basis, but they do not provide enough underlying data to verify the complete month-by-month comparison or its claimed relationship to weather conditions.
How this result should be understood in the broader research timeline
The Nature paper is best understood as a large-area module and process-integration milestone. It is not directly comparable to every efficiency result from smaller cells, tandem devices or different module-area definitions.
The supplied evidence does not verify the requested comparison with the team’s earlier 17.2%-efficient Science result. Nor does it establish the claimed 28.04% certified perovskite–organic tandem record attributed to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Those claims should be treated as unconfirmed in this evidence set rather than folded into the significance of the present module result.
Bottom line
The demonstrated advance is clear: Nanjing University and Renshine combined a 2-methoxyethanol/1,3-dioxolane/DMSO solvent system, vacuum-assisted crystallization and lead-carboxylate passivation to produce a 0.72 m² perovskite module with 22.0% certified full-area efficiency and 158.4 W steady-state output. A smaller module reached 24.0% certified efficiency, and the modules reportedly passed IEC 61215 and IEC 61730 testing. 1
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That makes the work a notable meter-scale perovskite-module result. The broader claims about comparative degradation, field output, temperature and irradiance effects, earlier records and tandem benchmarks require the complete paper or additional primary data before they can be stated with the same confidence.
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Published online in Nature on August 12, 2026, the team reported a 0.72 m² single junction perovskite module with 22.0% certified full area efficiency and 158.4 W steady state output.
What are the key points to validate first?
Published online in Nature on August 12, 2026, the team reported a 0.72 m² single junction perovskite module with 22.0% certified full area efficiency and 158.4 W steady state output. The process combined 2 methoxyethanol, 1,3 dioxolane and dimethyl sulfoxide with vacuum assisted crystallization, then applied chemically stable lead carboxylates to a formamidinium iodide rich surface.
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A smaller 810 cm² module reached 24.0% certified efficiency, while a reported maximum power point test retained 96% of initial efficiency after 2,200 hours; the available reports do not provide a complete head to head...