Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) play an important role in improving the performance of inverted perovskite solar cells. However, loose molecular packing, non-uniform coverage, weak affinity with the solvents of perovskite precursors, and energy-level mismatch cause energy losses at the buried interface. Here we develop a light-stable donor–acceptor interface formed by an asymmetric carbazole-based SAM, namely, BrAs, and N-hydroxyethyl phthalimide (PIE). The single-side electron-withdrawing bromine in BrAs maintains wettability and reduces the valence band offset to 0.09 eV. Additionally, the asymmetric dipole in BrAs reorients the carbazole units and strengthens short-range Coulomb interactions, resulting in close packing and uniform coverage of SAMs for efficient and uniform carrier transport. The donor–acceptor interface also promotes ultrafast energy transfer, which enhances the photostability of BrAs and improves thermal carrier extraction by 19%, further minimizing energy losses. In particular, the lattice-matching PIE molecules stabilize the (100) out-of-plane orientation of the perovskite by interlocking [PbI6]4⁻ octahedra, which releases compressive stress and stabilizes the buried interface. As a result, BrAs–PIE devices achieve a power conversion efficiency of 27.28% (certified, 27.19%) and retain over 95% of the initial efficiency after 1,500 h of illumination under the ISOS-L-2 protocol.
自组装单层膜（SAMs）在提高倒置钙钛矿太阳能电池的性能方面发挥着重要作用。然而，由于分子堆积松散、覆盖不均匀、与钙钛矿前驱体溶剂亲和力弱以及能级失配等原因，导致了埋藏界面处的能量损失。在这里，我们开发了一种光稳定的供体-受体界面，由不对称的咔唑基SAM（即bra）和n -羟乙基酞酰亚胺（PIE）形成。bra中的单侧吸电子溴保持了润湿性，并将价带偏移减小到0.09 eV。此外，bra中的不对称偶极子使咔唑单元重新定向，并加强了短程库仑相互作用，从而导致sam的紧密堆积和均匀覆盖，从而实现高效和均匀的载流子传输。供体-受体界面还促进了超快的能量传递，从而提高了bra的光稳定性，并将热载流子提取率提高了19%，进一步减少了能量损失。特别是，晶格匹配的PIE分子通过联锁[PbI6]4 -八面体来稳定钙钛矿的（100）面外取向，释放压应力，稳定埋藏界面。结果，bra - pie器件的功率转换效率达到27.28%（认证为27.19%），并且在iso - l -2协议下照明1500小时后保持95%以上的初始效率。
{"title":"Photostable donor–acceptor interface for minimizing energy loss in inverted perovskite solar cells","authors":"Congcong Tian, Anxin Sun, Jinling Chen, Rongshan Zhuang, Chen Chen, Jiawei Zheng, Shuo Liu, Jiajun Du, Qianwen Chen, Lei Cai, Shulin Han, Feng Tian, Chun-Chao Chen","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01827-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01827-6","url":null,"abstract":"Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) play an important role in improving the performance of inverted perovskite solar cells. However, loose molecular packing, non-uniform coverage, weak affinity with the solvents of perovskite precursors, and energy-level mismatch cause energy losses at the buried interface. Here we develop a light-stable donor–acceptor interface formed by an asymmetric carbazole-based SAM, namely, BrAs, and N-hydroxyethyl phthalimide (PIE). The single-side electron-withdrawing bromine in BrAs maintains wettability and reduces the valence band offset to 0.09 eV. Additionally, the asymmetric dipole in BrAs reorients the carbazole units and strengthens short-range Coulomb interactions, resulting in close packing and uniform coverage of SAMs for efficient and uniform carrier transport. The donor–acceptor interface also promotes ultrafast energy transfer, which enhances the photostability of BrAs and improves thermal carrier extraction by 19%, further minimizing energy losses. In particular, the lattice-matching PIE molecules stabilize the (100) out-of-plane orientation of the perovskite by interlocking [PbI6]4⁻ octahedra, which releases compressive stress and stabilizes the buried interface. As a result, BrAs–PIE devices achieve a power conversion efficiency of 27.28% (certified, 27.19%) and retain over 95% of the initial efficiency after 1,500 h of illumination under the ISOS-L-2 protocol.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"81 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":35.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145968813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-13DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01832-9
Margot Niels, Tom Vanackere, Ewoud Vissers, Tingting Zhai, Patrick Nenezic, Jakob Declercq, Cédric Bruynsteen, Shengpu Niu, Arno Moerman, Olivier Caytan, Nishant Singh, Sam Lemey, Xin Yin, Sofie Janssen, Peter Verheyen, Neha Singh, Dieter Bode, Martin Davi, Filippo Ferraro, Philippe Absil, Sadhishkumar Balakrishnan, Joris Van Campenhout, Günther Roelkens, Bart Kuyken, Maximilien Billet
The rapid expansion of cloud computing and artificial intelligence has driven the demand for faster optical components in data centres to unprecedented levels. A key advancement in this field is the integration of multiple photonic components onto a single chip, enhancing the performance of optical transceivers. Here silicon photonics, benefiting from mature fabrication processes, has gained prominence in both academic research and industrial applications. The platform combines modulators, switches, photodetectors and low-loss waveguides on a single chip. However, emerging telecommunication standards require modulation speeds that exceed the capabilities of silicon-based modulators. To address these limitations, thin-film lithium niobate has been proposed as an alternative to silicon photonics, offering a low voltage–length product and exceptional high-speed modulation properties. More recently, the first demonstrations of thin-film lithium tantalate circuits have emerged, potentially addressing some of the disadvantages of lithium niobate, enabling a reduced bias drift and enhanced resistance to optical damage. As such, this material arises as a promising candidate for next-generation photonic platforms. However, a persistent drawback of such platforms is the lithium contamination, which complicates integration with CMOS fabrication processes. Here we present for the first time the integration of lithium tantalate onto a silicon photonics chip. This integration is achieved without modifying the standard silicon photonics process design kit. Our device achieves low half-wave voltage (3.5 V), low insertion loss (2.9 dB) and high-speed operation (>70 GHz), paving the way for next-generation applications. By minimizing lithium tantalate material use, our approach reduces costs while leveraging existing silicon photonics technology advancements, in particular supporting ultra-fast monolithic germanium photodetectors and established process design kits.
{"title":"A high-speed heterogeneous lithium tantalate silicon photonics platform","authors":"Margot Niels, Tom Vanackere, Ewoud Vissers, Tingting Zhai, Patrick Nenezic, Jakob Declercq, Cédric Bruynsteen, Shengpu Niu, Arno Moerman, Olivier Caytan, Nishant Singh, Sam Lemey, Xin Yin, Sofie Janssen, Peter Verheyen, Neha Singh, Dieter Bode, Martin Davi, Filippo Ferraro, Philippe Absil, Sadhishkumar Balakrishnan, Joris Van Campenhout, Günther Roelkens, Bart Kuyken, Maximilien Billet","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01832-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01832-9","url":null,"abstract":"The rapid expansion of cloud computing and artificial intelligence has driven the demand for faster optical components in data centres to unprecedented levels. A key advancement in this field is the integration of multiple photonic components onto a single chip, enhancing the performance of optical transceivers. Here silicon photonics, benefiting from mature fabrication processes, has gained prominence in both academic research and industrial applications. The platform combines modulators, switches, photodetectors and low-loss waveguides on a single chip. However, emerging telecommunication standards require modulation speeds that exceed the capabilities of silicon-based modulators. To address these limitations, thin-film lithium niobate has been proposed as an alternative to silicon photonics, offering a low voltage–length product and exceptional high-speed modulation properties. More recently, the first demonstrations of thin-film lithium tantalate circuits have emerged, potentially addressing some of the disadvantages of lithium niobate, enabling a reduced bias drift and enhanced resistance to optical damage. As such, this material arises as a promising candidate for next-generation photonic platforms. However, a persistent drawback of such platforms is the lithium contamination, which complicates integration with CMOS fabrication processes. Here we present for the first time the integration of lithium tantalate onto a silicon photonics chip. This integration is achieved without modifying the standard silicon photonics process design kit. Our device achieves low half-wave voltage (3.5 V), low insertion loss (2.9 dB) and high-speed operation (>70 GHz), paving the way for next-generation applications. By minimizing lithium tantalate material use, our approach reduces costs while leveraging existing silicon photonics technology advancements, in particular supporting ultra-fast monolithic germanium photodetectors and established process design kits.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":35.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145956358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-12DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01825-8
Wenhao Wang, Yi Ji Tan, Pascal Szriftgiser, Guillaume Ducournau, Ranjan Singh
The rise of topological valley photonics heralds a new era in photonic integrated circuits featuring low-loss, compact designs with robust light transport through sharp corners. However, most demonstrations of valley photonic devices only focus on the robust waveguiding of light with suppressed radiation leakage. Here we harness the conical radiation of leaky valley photonic crystals to demonstrate a topological leaky-wave antenna (LWA) that unifies leaky and guided topological edge states on a single silicon chip. We demonstrate a wide-range beam scanning of 120° in the polar angle with a maximum gain of 15 dBi using a single-branch topological LWA. In addition, the 3-branch LWA enables beam scanning over 75% of the entire three-dimensional solid-angle space. We further demonstrate frequency-division demultiplexing of 3 terahertz wireless links, each radiating 120° apart to collectively deliver high-gain omnidirectional full-space coverage, achieving an aggregate data rate of 72 Gbps. Furthermore, we demonstrate bidirectional dual-channel terahertz wireless links, where the time-reversal-symmetric topological LWA simultaneously receives a real-time high-definition video stream and transmits on-chip signals into free space at a data rate of 24 Gbps. Our on-chip leaky topological antennas provide a versatile platform for the next generation 6G and beyond (XG) cellular networks, imaging, terahertz Wi-Fi (TeraFi), and terahertz detection and ranging (TeDAR).
{"title":"On-chip topological leaky-wave antenna for full-space terahertz wireless connectivity","authors":"Wenhao Wang, Yi Ji Tan, Pascal Szriftgiser, Guillaume Ducournau, Ranjan Singh","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01825-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01825-8","url":null,"abstract":"The rise of topological valley photonics heralds a new era in photonic integrated circuits featuring low-loss, compact designs with robust light transport through sharp corners. However, most demonstrations of valley photonic devices only focus on the robust waveguiding of light with suppressed radiation leakage. Here we harness the conical radiation of leaky valley photonic crystals to demonstrate a topological leaky-wave antenna (LWA) that unifies leaky and guided topological edge states on a single silicon chip. We demonstrate a wide-range beam scanning of 120° in the polar angle with a maximum gain of 15 dBi using a single-branch topological LWA. In addition, the 3-branch LWA enables beam scanning over 75% of the entire three-dimensional solid-angle space. We further demonstrate frequency-division demultiplexing of 3 terahertz wireless links, each radiating 120° apart to collectively deliver high-gain omnidirectional full-space coverage, achieving an aggregate data rate of 72 Gbps. Furthermore, we demonstrate bidirectional dual-channel terahertz wireless links, where the time-reversal-symmetric topological LWA simultaneously receives a real-time high-definition video stream and transmits on-chip signals into free space at a data rate of 24 Gbps. Our on-chip leaky topological antennas provide a versatile platform for the next generation 6G and beyond (XG) cellular networks, imaging, terahertz Wi-Fi (TeraFi), and terahertz detection and ranging (TeDAR).","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"124 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":35.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145956348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-09DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01823-w
Francesco Gucci, Eduardo B. Molinero, Mattia Russo, Pablo San-Jose, Franco V. A. Camargo, Margherita Maiuri, Misha Ivanov, Álvaro Jiménez-Galán, Rui E. F. Silva, Stefano Dal Conte, Giulio Cerullo
{"title":"Encoding and manipulating ultrafast coherent valleytronic information with lightwaves","authors":"Francesco Gucci, Eduardo B. Molinero, Mattia Russo, Pablo San-Jose, Franco V. A. Camargo, Margherita Maiuri, Misha Ivanov, Álvaro Jiménez-Galán, Rui E. F. Silva, Stefano Dal Conte, Giulio Cerullo","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01823-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01823-w","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":35.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145938251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-08DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01810-1
Dongdong Zhang, Hengyi Dai, Hai Zhang, Lian Duan
{"title":"Stable deep-blue organic light-emitting diodes based on sensitized fluorescence","authors":"Dongdong Zhang, Hengyi Dai, Hai Zhang, Lian Duan","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01810-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01810-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":35.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145937553","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-06DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01809-8
Seong Sik Shin, Byung-wook Park, Jun Hong Noh, Sang Il Seok
Interlayers (ILs) play a pivotal role in perovskite solar cells, enabling efficient charge extraction, suppressing recombination and enhancing device stability. Positioned between the light-absorbing perovskite layer and the electrodes, ILs facilitate selective carrier transport while mitigating interfacial losses. Unlike GaAs cells and heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer silicon cells, which benefit from coherent, chemically compatible interfaces, perovskite solar cells exhibit structural and energetic mismatches at the interfaces between the perovskite and charge transport layers (CTLs). To address these challenges, functional interfacial ILs are introduced at both the CTL/perovskite and CTL/electrode interfaces. This Review examines the evolution of these ILs, from simple passivation layers to multifunctional components that regulate electric fields and carrier dynamics. We highlight recent advances in materials and architectures, classify ILs by their device position and discuss design strategies inspired by mature photovoltaic technologies. We argue that interfacial IL engineering is crucial to radiative efficiency and stable, high-performance perovskite solar cells. This Review discusses recent advances in interlayer engineering for perovskite solar cells, highlighting promising materials and architectures that could improve the stability and efficiency of devices.
{"title":"Interlayer engineering in metal halide perovskite photovoltaics","authors":"Seong Sik Shin, Byung-wook Park, Jun Hong Noh, Sang Il Seok","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01809-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01809-8","url":null,"abstract":"Interlayers (ILs) play a pivotal role in perovskite solar cells, enabling efficient charge extraction, suppressing recombination and enhancing device stability. Positioned between the light-absorbing perovskite layer and the electrodes, ILs facilitate selective carrier transport while mitigating interfacial losses. Unlike GaAs cells and heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer silicon cells, which benefit from coherent, chemically compatible interfaces, perovskite solar cells exhibit structural and energetic mismatches at the interfaces between the perovskite and charge transport layers (CTLs). To address these challenges, functional interfacial ILs are introduced at both the CTL/perovskite and CTL/electrode interfaces. This Review examines the evolution of these ILs, from simple passivation layers to multifunctional components that regulate electric fields and carrier dynamics. We highlight recent advances in materials and architectures, classify ILs by their device position and discuss design strategies inspired by mature photovoltaic technologies. We argue that interfacial IL engineering is crucial to radiative efficiency and stable, high-performance perovskite solar cells. This Review discusses recent advances in interlayer engineering for perovskite solar cells, highlighting promising materials and architectures that could improve the stability and efficiency of devices.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 1","pages":"11-23"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145903753","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-06DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01829-4
Keigo Kawase, Goro Isoyama
Modulating an electron beam with a frequency-beating laser enables a free-electron laser to generate high-power, narrowband terahertz pulses that can be continuously tuned from 7.8 to 30.8 terahertz.
{"title":"Electron shaping for continuous terahertz coverage","authors":"Keigo Kawase, Goro Isoyama","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01829-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01829-4","url":null,"abstract":"Modulating an electron beam with a frequency-beating laser enables a free-electron laser to generate high-power, narrowband terahertz pulses that can be continuously tuned from 7.8 to 30.8 terahertz.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 1","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145903752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2026-01-06DOI: 10.1038/s41566-025-01828-5
Carlos A. Ríos Ocampo, Nathan Youngblood
Optical computing has been limited to vector–matrix multiplications, with matrix–matrix operations requiring wavelength- or time-division multiplexing, reducing energy efficiency and speed. Now, researchers have demonstrated a free-space optical approach that overcomes these limitations, enabling parallel matrix–matrix and tensor–matrix multiplications in a single optical operation.
{"title":"Multiplying matrices in a single pass with light","authors":"Carlos A. Ríos Ocampo, Nathan Youngblood","doi":"10.1038/s41566-025-01828-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s41566-025-01828-5","url":null,"abstract":"Optical computing has been limited to vector–matrix multiplications, with matrix–matrix operations requiring wavelength- or time-division multiplexing, reducing energy efficiency and speed. Now, researchers have demonstrated a free-space optical approach that overcomes these limitations, enabling parallel matrix–matrix and tensor–matrix multiplications in a single optical operation.","PeriodicalId":18926,"journal":{"name":"Nature Photonics","volume":"20 1","pages":"3-4"},"PeriodicalIF":32.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145903762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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