Overcoming Efficiency and Cost Barriers for Large-Area Quantum Dot Photovoltaics Through Stable Ink Engineering

Guozheng Shi; Xiaobo Ding; Zeke Liu; Yang Liu; Yifan Chen; Cheng Liu; Zitao Ni; Haibin Wang; Katsuji Ito; Keisuke Igarashi; Kun Feng; Kaicheng Zhang; Larry Luer; Wei Chen; Xingyi Lyu; Bin Song; Xiang Sun; Lin Yuan; Dong Liu; Yusheng Li; Kunyuan Lu; Wei Deng; Youyong Li; Peter Muller-Buschbaum; Tao Li; Jun Zhong; Satoshi Uchida; Takaya Kubo; Ning Li; Joseph Luther; Hiroshi Segawa; Qing Shen; Christoph Brabec; Wanli Ma

doi:10.1038/s41560-025-01746-4

Overcoming Efficiency and Cost Barriers for Large-Area Quantum Dot Photovoltaics Through Stable Ink Engineering

Guozheng Shi, Xiaobo Ding, Zeke Liu, Yang Liu, Yifan Chen, Cheng Liu, Zitao Ni, Haibin Wang, Katsuji Ito, Keisuke Igarashi, Kun Feng, Kaicheng Zhang, Larry Luer, Wei Chen, Xingyi Lyu, Bin Song, Xiang Sun, Lin Yuan, Dong Liu, Yusheng LiKunyuan Lu, Wei Deng, Youyong Li, Peter Muller-Buschbaum, Tao Li, Jun Zhong, Satoshi Uchida, Takaya Kubo, Ning Li, Joseph Luther, Hiroshi Segawa, Qing Shen, Christoph Brabec, Wanli Ma

Materials, Chemical, and Computational Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The bottom-up construction of electronics from colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) could innovate nanotechnology manufacturing through printing. However, the unstable and expensive semiconductive CQD inks make the scaling up of CQD electronics challenging. Here we develop a strategy for engineering the solution chemistry of lead sulfide (PbS) CQD inks prepared from a low-cost direct synthesis method. By creating an iodine-rich environment in weakly coordinating solvents, we convert the iodoplumbates into functional anions, which condense into a robust surface shell. The fully charged electrostatic surface layer prevents aggregation and epitaxial fusion of CQDs, yielding stable inks. By eliminating the fusion-induced inter-band states, we print a compact CQD film with uniformity in three dimensions, flattened energy landscape and improved carrier transport. We achieved a certified efficiency of 13.40% on 0.04 cm2 cells, with a 300-fold increase in active area, scaling up to a 12.60 cm2 module with a certified efficiency of 10%.

Original language	American English
Journal	Nature Energy
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-025-01746-4
State	Published - 2025

NREL Publication Number

NREL/JA-5F00-93464

Keywords

photovoltaics
quantum dot
stable ink engineering

Access to Document

10.1038/s41560-025-01746-4

Cite this

Shi, G., Ding, X., Liu, Z., Liu, Y., Chen, Y., Liu, C., Ni, Z., Wang, H., Ito, K., Igarashi, K., Feng, K., Zhang, K., Luer, L., Chen, W., Lyu, X., Song, B., Sun, X., Yuan, L., Liu, D., ... Ma, W. (2025). Overcoming Efficiency and Cost Barriers for Large-Area Quantum Dot Photovoltaics Through Stable Ink Engineering. Nature Energy. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-025-01746-4

@article{d14ca0406a6f4f51aa15bb7f3adbdc78,

title = "Overcoming Efficiency and Cost Barriers for Large-Area Quantum Dot Photovoltaics Through Stable Ink Engineering",

abstract = "The bottom-up construction of electronics from colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) could innovate nanotechnology manufacturing through printing. However, the unstable and expensive semiconductive CQD inks make the scaling up of CQD electronics challenging. Here we develop a strategy for engineering the solution chemistry of lead sulfide (PbS) CQD inks prepared from a low-cost direct synthesis method. By creating an iodine-rich environment in weakly coordinating solvents, we convert the iodoplumbates into functional anions, which condense into a robust surface shell. The fully charged electrostatic surface layer prevents aggregation and epitaxial fusion of CQDs, yielding stable inks. By eliminating the fusion-induced inter-band states, we print a compact CQD film with uniformity in three dimensions, flattened energy landscape and improved carrier transport. We achieved a certified efficiency of 13.40% on 0.04 cm2 cells, with a 300-fold increase in active area, scaling up to a 12.60 cm2 module with a certified efficiency of 10%.",

keywords = "photovoltaics, quantum dot, stable ink engineering",

author = "Guozheng Shi and Xiaobo Ding and Zeke Liu and Yang Liu and Yifan Chen and Cheng Liu and Zitao Ni and Haibin Wang and Katsuji Ito and Keisuke Igarashi and Kun Feng and Kaicheng Zhang and Larry Luer and Wei Chen and Xingyi Lyu and Bin Song and Xiang Sun and Lin Yuan and Dong Liu and Yusheng Li and Kunyuan Lu and Wei Deng and Youyong Li and Peter Muller-Buschbaum and Tao Li and Jun Zhong and Satoshi Uchida and Takaya Kubo and Ning Li and Joseph Luther and Hiroshi Segawa and Qing Shen and Christoph Brabec and Wanli Ma",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.1038/s41560-025-01746-4",

language = "American English",

journal = "Nature Energy",

issn = "2058-7546",

publisher = "Springer Nature",

}

Shi, G, Ding, X, Liu, Z, Liu, Y, Chen, Y, Liu, C, Ni, Z, Wang, H, Ito, K, Igarashi, K, Feng, K, Zhang, K, Luer, L, Chen, W, Lyu, X, Song, B, Sun, X, Yuan, L, Liu, D, Li, Y, Lu, K, Deng, W, Li, Y, Muller-Buschbaum, P, Li, T, Zhong, J, Uchida, S, Kubo, T, Li, N, Luther, J, Segawa, H, Shen, Q, Brabec, C & Ma, W 2025, 'Overcoming Efficiency and Cost Barriers for Large-Area Quantum Dot Photovoltaics Through Stable Ink Engineering', Nature Energy. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-025-01746-4

TY - JOUR

T1 - Overcoming Efficiency and Cost Barriers for Large-Area Quantum Dot Photovoltaics Through Stable Ink Engineering

AU - Shi, Guozheng

AU - Ding, Xiaobo

AU - Liu, Zeke

AU - Liu, Yang

AU - Chen, Yifan

AU - Liu, Cheng

AU - Ni, Zitao

AU - Wang, Haibin

AU - Ito, Katsuji

AU - Igarashi, Keisuke

AU - Feng, Kun

AU - Zhang, Kaicheng

AU - Luer, Larry

AU - Chen, Wei

AU - Lyu, Xingyi

AU - Song, Bin

AU - Sun, Xiang

AU - Yuan, Lin

AU - Liu, Dong

AU - Li, Yusheng

AU - Lu, Kunyuan

AU - Deng, Wei

AU - Li, Youyong

AU - Muller-Buschbaum, Peter

AU - Li, Tao

AU - Zhong, Jun

AU - Uchida, Satoshi

AU - Kubo, Takaya

AU - Li, Ning

AU - Luther, Joseph

AU - Segawa, Hiroshi

AU - Shen, Qing

AU - Brabec, Christoph

AU - Ma, Wanli

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - The bottom-up construction of electronics from colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) could innovate nanotechnology manufacturing through printing. However, the unstable and expensive semiconductive CQD inks make the scaling up of CQD electronics challenging. Here we develop a strategy for engineering the solution chemistry of lead sulfide (PbS) CQD inks prepared from a low-cost direct synthesis method. By creating an iodine-rich environment in weakly coordinating solvents, we convert the iodoplumbates into functional anions, which condense into a robust surface shell. The fully charged electrostatic surface layer prevents aggregation and epitaxial fusion of CQDs, yielding stable inks. By eliminating the fusion-induced inter-band states, we print a compact CQD film with uniformity in three dimensions, flattened energy landscape and improved carrier transport. We achieved a certified efficiency of 13.40% on 0.04 cm2 cells, with a 300-fold increase in active area, scaling up to a 12.60 cm2 module with a certified efficiency of 10%.

AB - The bottom-up construction of electronics from colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) could innovate nanotechnology manufacturing through printing. However, the unstable and expensive semiconductive CQD inks make the scaling up of CQD electronics challenging. Here we develop a strategy for engineering the solution chemistry of lead sulfide (PbS) CQD inks prepared from a low-cost direct synthesis method. By creating an iodine-rich environment in weakly coordinating solvents, we convert the iodoplumbates into functional anions, which condense into a robust surface shell. The fully charged electrostatic surface layer prevents aggregation and epitaxial fusion of CQDs, yielding stable inks. By eliminating the fusion-induced inter-band states, we print a compact CQD film with uniformity in three dimensions, flattened energy landscape and improved carrier transport. We achieved a certified efficiency of 13.40% on 0.04 cm2 cells, with a 300-fold increase in active area, scaling up to a 12.60 cm2 module with a certified efficiency of 10%.

KW - photovoltaics

KW - quantum dot

KW - stable ink engineering

U2 - 10.1038/s41560-025-01746-4

DO - 10.1038/s41560-025-01746-4

M3 - Article

SN - 2058-7546

JO - Nature Energy

JF - Nature Energy

ER -

Overcoming Efficiency and Cost Barriers for Large-Area Quantum Dot Photovoltaics Through Stable Ink Engineering

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Keywords

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