This breakthrough, published today (17 April) in the journal Science via First Release, could accelerate the global transition to renewable energy.

Professor Marina Freitag and Dr Zhongjin Shen from Newcastle University's School of Natural and Environmental Sciences played vital roles in an international research team that has successfully addressed one of the most persistent challenges in advanced solar technology: the stability of interfaces between critical component layers.

Dr Shen, who conceptualised the novel molecule and designed the experiments, explained: "We identified that conventional electron transport materials create weak interfaces in solar cells that degrade quickly under real-world conditions. By synthesising an ionic salt from carbon-based molecules, we created stronger connections at these critical junctions, resulting in devices that maintain their performance much longer."

Improved performance

The team developed CPMAC, an innovative ionic salt derived from C60 molecules. Unlike conventional approaches, CPMAC forms stronger bonds at crucial interfaces within solar cells, creating a more resilient structure with three times the mechanical strength of traditional materials.

"The results exceeded our expectations," said Professor Freitag. "Using this new material, our collaborative team achieved approximately 26% power conversion efficiency in laboratory devices with less than 2% degradation after 2,100 hours of continuous operation at elevated temperatures. When scaled up to larger modules, the technology maintained 23% efficiency with minimal performance loss."

The research combined advanced computational modelling, chemical synthesis, and rigorous mechanical and electrical testing to demonstrate how the ionic nature of CPMAC significantly improves performance under realistic conditions.

"This achievement demonstrates how international scientific partnerships drive innovation in renewable energy," noted Professor Freitag. "By combining Newcastle's expertise in molecular design with specialised capabilities from our partners in the US and Saudi Arabia, we've addressed a fundamental challenge that no single institution could have solved alone."

The research team included leading scientists from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory led by Dr. Kai Zhu, along with researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, the University of Toledo, Arizona State University, and CubicPV Inc.

While the results are promising, the researchers acknowledge that further work is needed to optimise manufacturing processes and reduce costs before widespread commercial adoption becomes possible. The team is now focusing on scaling up production methods while maintaining the exceptional performance they've demonstrated.

The project received funding support from multiple organisations, including the Royal Society, UKRI EPSRC Standard Grant, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

The full study is titled: "C60-based ionic salt electron shuttle for high-performance inverted perovskite solar modules" published by Science via First Release.