Advances of Self-Healing Polymers Incorporated in Perovskite Solar Cells for High Durability

TL;DR

This paper reviews how self-healing polymers can improve the durability of perovskite solar cells under environmental stress, offering a roadmap for practical applications.

Contribution

The paper introduces a systematic design strategy and multi-scale evaluation protocol for integrating self-healing polymers into perovskite solar cells.

Findings

Self-healing polymers can autonomously repair damage in perovskite solar cells under chemical and mechanical stress.

A multi-dimensional evaluation system was proposed to quantify healing efficacy using electrical, morphological, and chemical metrics.

Different roles of self-healing polymers—additives, modifiers, and encapsulation materials—are analyzed for their effects on solar cell performance.

Abstract

Examining recovery mechanisms through self-healing polymer–perovskite interactions under chemical/mechanical stress.Proposing a multi-scale protocol combining electrical, morphological, and chemical metrics to quantitatively assess healing efficacy.Establishing a systematic design strategy based on healing stimuli and device integration scenarios, linking molecular features to functional outcomes.

Examining recovery mechanisms through self-healing polymer–perovskite interactions under chemical/mechanical stress.

Proposing a multi-scale protocol combining electrical, morphological, and chemical metrics to quantitatively assess healing efficacy.

Establishing a systematic design strategy based on healing stimuli and device integration scenarios, linking molecular features to functional outcomes.

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have achieved remarkable power conversion efficiencies (PCE) exceeding 27%, while their operational instability under environmental stress (e.g., moisture, heat, mechanical bending) remains a critical barrier to commercialization. Self-healing polymers (SHPs) with dynamic covalent bonds or non-covalent bonds have emerged as an innovative solution to enhance the durability of PSCs through autonomous damage healing. Although SHPs have been proved to be quite promising for enhance the reliability of PSCs, there is still lacking systematic molecular design strategies tailored for practical cooperation SHPs with versatile types of PSCs. Herein, this review systematically organizes the recent research progress of self-healing PSCs from the perspective of application-oriented design principles. The self-healing mechanisms of PSCs using SHPs under chemical and mechanical damage modes are first comprehensively explored, and a multi-dimensional self-healing evaluation system is proposed. Subsequently, the distinct effects of SHPs as additives, interfacial modifiers, and encapsulation materials in PSCs are summarized. More importantly, the incorporation methods of SHPs in PSCs and the structural characteristics of representative SHPs are systematically analyzed, with application-specific design principles for optimized performance proposed. Finally, the challenges and opportunities in the optimization of self-healing material properties, in situ characterization techniques, and scalable fabrication are outlined. This work aims to facilitate the transition of SHP-based self-healing PSCs from laboratory research to real-world applications, providing a roadmap for future developments in this emerging field.

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