We are proud to announce that M.Sc. Paavo Mäkinen has successfully defended his doctoral dissertation titled “Interfacial Engineering of Organic Hole Transport Materials in Perovskite Solar Cells for Enhanced Stability.” The public examination took place on 22nd May, 2026, at Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
In his doctoral dissertation, Paavo Mäkinen explored how engineering the interface between the light-absorbing perovskite layer and the hole transport material can improve solar cell stability. The research showed that inexpensive organic materials with well‑designed molecular interactions can significantly extend device lifetimes while retaining good performance, without relying on degradation‑inducing additive mixtures. These findings are important because the limited lifetime of perovskite solar cells remains a major obstacle to their commercialization. The results benefit research and, in the long term, the energy industry by providing practical design principles for developing more durable, affordable, and market‑ready renewable‑energy technologies.
The Opponent for the defense was Dr. Silvia Colella from the National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Nanotechnology (CNR-NANOTEC) in Bari, Italy. Professor Paola Vivo from Tampere University served as the Custos.
The dissertation is available online.
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Paavo Mäkinen on this significant academic achievement!