Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China and the University of Colorado Boulder have demonstrated a perovskite diode that acts as both an efficient solar cell and a high‑efficiency LED using the same 800 nm thick absorber layer.
The device embeds porous micrometer‑scale alumina (Al₂O₃) “sponge” islands (∼5 μm wide, 0.5 μm tall) inside the perovskite, allowing a layer thick enough for photovoltaics to also extract light efficiently like an LED. In conventional devices, perovskite LEDs rely on ultrathin, discontinuous layers of about 50 nm, whereas efficient solar cells need layers roughly sixteen times thicker; this architecture reconciles those opposing thickness requirements in a single stack. Surface‑functionalized alumina nanoparticles assemble electrostatically into these islands: one population is coated with negatively charged Me‑4PACz, the other with positively charged ODA, giving a porous, low‑index network the perovskite can grow through without disrupting charge transport.
The passivating Me‑4PACz and ODA molecules suppress interfacial defects, cutting the surface recombination velocity from 20.2 cm/s in flat controls to 1.4 cm/s in the e‑Al₂O₃ device and pushing the internal radiative efficiency above 50%. The low‑index, wavelength‑scale alumina islands roughly double the fraction of photons entering the escape cone, and together with strong photon recycling boost the external radiative efficiency by more than 40% compared with planar devices.
In LED mode, the 800 nm device reaches ∼31% electroluminescence external quantum efficiency, with radiance above 1,200 W Sr⁻¹ m⁻² and ∼32% energy‑conversion efficiency enabled by low drive voltages. In solar‑cell mode, it delivers 27% power‑conversion efficiency (certified stabilized 26.7%), a world‑record perovskite efficiency that was listed on the NREL chart between May 2024 and February 2025, and it retains 95% of its initial efficiency after 1,200 hours of continuous operation, compared with 67% for flat controls.
This is only the second time any photovoltaic material has surpassed 26% solar‑cell efficiency and 30% LED efficiency in the same device, the other being far more expensive single‑crystal gallium arsenide. The work shows that by embedding porous, passivated light‑management structures, the long‑assumed trade‑off between perovskite LED and solar‑cell architectures can be turned into a shared advantage in a single polycrystalline perovskite platform.
