Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT Guwahati) have developed a formamidinium (FA)-based perovskite semiconductor technology for solar cells and memory devices, using a molecular interface engineering method that helped solar cells achieve 25.73% efficiency, converting one-quarter of incident sunlight into electricity.

The research team addressed challenges, including solar cell interface defects, charge losses, environmental degradation, unstable switching, poor durability, and reduced data retention by developing a molecular interface engineering method.

This method uses two specially designed bright donor-acceptor organic molecules, which are deposited as 10- to 15-nanometer (nm) ultrathin layers between the charge-transport and perovskite layers.

Perovskite solar cells are made of multiple functional layers. Within the cells, selective transport layers extract photogenerated charge carriers to generate electricity. This process can encounter issues due to interfacial losses caused by surface defects, chemical redox reactions, and energy-level mismatches. These losses result in charge trapping and recombination.

The research team explained that such challenges worsen further under environmental stress, including moisture, heat, and oxygen. This stress leads to degradation of solar cells and reduces operational stability, limiting the perovskites’ practical effectiveness.

The team added that the resistive-switching behavior of perovskite memristors is frequently affected by uncontrolled ion migration, defect-assisted conduction, and interfacial instabilities. These problems can make switching inconsistent, shorten device lifespan, reduce data retention, and make it harder to understand how switching works. As a result, their use in reliable neuromorphic computing and next-generation non-volatile memory devices remains limited.

The research team said the bright donor-acceptor organic molecules help reduce the defects by controlling how electric charges behave at the interface. This causes an easy, smooth flow of charges generated by sunlight across the interface.

The team at IIT Guwahati also claims to have found that the interfacial engineering approach retained roughly 90% of its initial performance after extended storage under ambient conditions. The approach retained approximately 75% of the performance under continuous thermal and light stress.

The FA-based perovskite material can be used not only in solar cells but also in memory devices. With a very thin active layer, the new material displayed stable, low-power switching, the ability to store multiple memory states, and good durability. The team stated that such features make it useful for future neuromorphic computing, AI hardware, secure computing, cryptography, and random number generation.

“This work demonstrates the potential of perovskite-based semiconductor technologies for next-generation solar cells and memory devices. The synthesized novel organic molecules enable improved interfacial engineering for highly efficient and stable solar energy conversion, while the same material platform exhibits reliable resistive switching for advanced memory and neuromorphic computing applications,” said Parameswar K. Iyer, Professor, Department of Chemistry and Centre for Nanotechnology at IIT Guwahati.

These developments could accelerate the large-scale commercialization of integrated optoelectronic systems. Such systems combine energy harvesting, information storage, and intelligent computing within a single technological framework.

The team is working to improve the long-term performance of the new material under real-world conditions while scaling production of larger, more flexible commercial devices.

The IIT Guwahati research team claims that the research helped translate advanced materials from lab research into real-world use, enabling lightweight, flexible energy devices that can power satellites and withstand cosmic radiation.

Last November, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported developing a lightweight, two-dimensional polyaramid polymer that can serve as a protective coating for perovskite solar cells, electronics, and infrastructure.

In October 2025, a team led by researchers from the University of Sydney claimed it created the largest and most efficient triple-junction perovskite-perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell reported.