The dc-link voltage control is vitally important to ensure the operation of photovoltaic (PV) system at the maximum power voltage, where its performance affects the power quality injected into the grid. In this work, we propose a method, based on the Lyapunov function, for investigating the control system stability, during the design of a nonlinear dc-link voltage controller for single-stage single-phase grid-connected PV inverters. Furthermore, we demonstrate analytically that the non-linearity of the PV string's power-voltage (P-V) curve leads to system instability. Consequently, this article proposes an adaptive dc-link voltage controller, built from the P-V curve, as an application in order to establish a stability criterion. Simulations and experimental validations have been carried out on a grid-connected single-stage single-phase PV inverter test platform. The results confirm the feasibility of the analytical study developed in this article, as well as the proposed dc-link voltage controller with and without the stability analysis.