Our Recent Collaboration Reveals Understanding Thermal Stability of Wide-Bandgap Perovskite and Tandem Solar Cells under Rapid Thermal Cycling

January 14, 2026

Our latest contribution to the study provides critical insights into the operational stability of triple-cation wide-bandgap (WBG) perovskite solar cells (~1.68 eV) and tandem solar cells under rapid solar-thermal cycling.

Temperature fluctuations can trigger phase transformations and strain in perovskite devices, impacting structural integrity and performance. In this work, the collaborative team investigated WBG perovskite solar cells with a champion efficiency of 24.31%, and extended the study to tandem architectures.

This article reveals that degradation during rapid thermal cycling (temperature change rate of 10 °C/min) occurs in two distinct regimes: an initial “burn-in” phase causing a rapid 60% relative performance loss, followed by a steady degradation characterized by temperature-dependent fluctuations in photovoltaic parameters. Using operando grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering and photoluminescence measurements, temperature-induced strain, phase transitions, and increased non-radiative recombination have been determined as the main contributors to degradation.

This work, part of an extensive multi-country collaboration across institutions including TUM, KIT, NUS, LMU Munich, DESY, and others, provides crucial insights toward enhancing the thermal and operational stability of WBG perovskite and tandem solar cells, an essential step for real-world and space applications.

From our team, Kun Sun, who visited LMU Munich during his PhD, contributed to this collaborative work.