• Sutherland, Luke
• Simon, George
• Weerasinghe, Hasitha

Abstract

Flexible, fully printable perovskite solar cells (fl-PPSCs) have attracted widespread attention in the recent past due to several advantages such as low-cost, exceptional photovoltaic performance, mechanical flexibility, and the potential for large-scale production via high-throughput roll-to-roll (R2R) production lines in ambient conditions.[1, 2] Despite this, R2R fabrication of fl-PPSCs cannot be realized until the vacuum-based, low-throughput evaporated metal electrode is replaced by R2R printable (vacuum-free) electrodes. From our understanding, the highest reported power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) for a R2R processed fl-PPSC with an evaporated Au electrode and printed back electrode are 13.8% and 4.9%, respectively.[3, 4] In this work, we report on the optimized R2R coating conditions to demonstrate world-best efficiencies of over 17% for R2R printed flexible perovskite devices with an evaporated Au electrode. We further report a state-of-the-art method for the fabrication of all-R2R processable fl-PPSCs in ambient conditions with a record-breaking PCE of 16.65%, by incorporating a novel R2R-compatible printed back electrode onto the PET/ITO/SnO2/Perovskite/Spiro-OMeTAD structure. Finally, we demonstrate the commercial applicability of this new electrode processing technology by undertaking up-scaled demonstrations of fully printed, large-area fl-PPSC modules (100cm2).The complete fabrication of the devices and the modules was undertaken in ambient air using readily up-scalable printing and coating technologies. This demonstrates the outstanding potential of fl-PPSCs to be produced using high-throughput manufacturing lines for a wide range of exciting commercial prospects ranging from flexible portable electronics to aerospace applications.[5] 1. Zhang, J., et al., Critical review of recent progress of flexible perovskite solar cells. Materials Today, 2020. 39: p. 66-88. 2. Benitez-Rodriguez, J.F., et al., Roll-to-Roll Processes for the Fabrication of Perovskite Solar Cells under Ambient Conditions. Solar RRL, 2021. 5(9): p. 2100341. 3. Schmidt, T.M., et al., Upscaling of Perovskite Solar Cells: Fully Ambient Roll Processing of Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells with Printed Back Electrodes. Advanced Energy Materials, 2015. 5(15): p. 1500569. 4. Kim, Y.Y., et al., Roll-to-roll gravure-printed flexible perovskite solar cells using eco-friendly antisolvent bathing with wide processing window. Nature Communications, 2020. 11(1): p. 5146. 5. Hashemi, S.A., S. Ramakrishna, and A.G. Aberle, Recent progress in flexible–wearable solar cells for self-powered electronic devices. Energy & Environmental Science, 2020. 13(3): p. 685-743.

Topics

• perovskite
• impedance spectroscopy