Metallic Lead to Perfect Perovskite: A Bottom-Up Vapor-Assisted Colloidal Strategy for High-Performance Solar Cells.

Authors

Luwei Zhang, Yicheng Qian, Xiaodong Dai, Pingping Zhao, Yuan Qiu, Zhixin Ren, Sheng He, Jinzhao Li, Qian Zhao, Shougen Yin, Huanqi Cao

Published in

ACS applied materials & interfaces. Jul 07, 2026. Epub Jul 07, 2026.

Abstract

Using elemental lead (Pb⁰) as a precursor offers an upstream and atom-economical alternative route for perovskite synthesis. However, producing perovskite solar cells (PSCs) from Pb⁰ remains fundamentally challenging because Pb⁰ is hard to convert to Pb²⁺ via ordinary approaches, while any remaining Pb⁰ acts as deep-level defects in perovskite. To address this challenge, Pb⁰ first reacts with I₂ in N,N-dimethylformamide and dimethyl sulfoxide, yielding well-dispersed PbI₂ colloidal precursors that facilitate subsequent full conversion to perovskites through vapor-solid reaction with formamidinium iodide vapors. Devices starting from Pb⁰ perform much better than those from as-purchased PbI₂, in both efficiency and stability, achieving vapor-assisted solution-processed 22.65% efficiency under simulated AM1.5G illumination (over 20.65% from PbI₂). These findings suggest that high-quality perovskites may also be prepared from PbI₂ alternatives, even its upstream material Pb.

PMID:
42412490
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 07 Jul 2026.

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