Self-Assembled Mesoporous Scaffold Enabled Hybrid Hole-Transport Layer for Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

This study investigates GHK-Cu — a copper-based amino acid complex — as an interfacial modifier inserted between the perovskite layer and the Spiro-OMeTAD hole-transport layer (HTL) in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The researchers found that GHK-Cu's molecular flexibility and polarity-responsive coordination chemistry allowed it to expose multiple functional groups (─C=O, ─COOH, and ─NH₂) that interact with undercoordinated ionic defects via coordination bonds and hydrogen bonding. These interactions drove GHK-Cu to self-assemble into a mesoporous architecture at the interface, which then reorganized Spiro-OMeTAD into a hybrid mesoporous@Spiro-OMeTAD HTL. The authors report that this structure creates continuous hole-transport channels, reduces thermomechanical stress, and suppresses ion migration. Devices incorporating this interlayer reportedly achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 26.72%, with a certified PCE of 26.34%, and retained 95% of initial efficiency after 1,600 hours of maximum power point tracking at 85°C. Limitations include the preprint status of the work, meaning it has not yet undergone formal peer review, and the results reflect a specific device architecture that may not generalize broadly.

Why this grade: This is a materials science / photovoltaics engineering study — not a human or biological study — and is currently a preprint without peer review, making evidence grading for human health claims inapplicable.