Highly Efficient and Fully Roll-to-Roll Processible Perovskite Solar Cells Incorporating Printed Electrodes

Flexible, fully printable perovskite solar cells (<i>fl-</i>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 <i>fl</i>-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 <i>fl</i>-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 <i>fl-</i>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 <i>fl</i>-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 <i>fl-</i>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].<br/><br/>References:<br/>1. Zhang, J., et al., <i>Critical review of recent progress of flexible perovskite solar cells.</i> Materials Today, 2020. <b>39</b>: p. 66-88.<br/>2. Benitez-Rodriguez, J.F., et al., <i>Roll-to-Roll Processes for the Fabrication of Perovskite Solar Cells under Ambient Conditions.</i> Solar RRL, 2021. <b>5</b>(9): p. 2100341.<br/>3. Schmidt, T.M., et al., <i>Upscaling of Perovskite Solar Cells: Fully Ambient Roll Processing of Flexible Perovskite Solar Cells with Printed Back Electrodes.</i> Advanced Energy Materials, 2015. <b>5</b>(15): p. 1500569.<br/>4. Kim, Y.Y., et al., <i>Roll-to-roll gravure-printed flexible perovskite solar cells using eco-friendly antisolvent bathing with wide processing window.</i> Nature Communications, 2020. <b>11</b>(1): p. 5146.<br/>5. Hashemi, S.A., S. Ramakrishna, and A.G. Aberle, <i>Recent progress in flexible–wearable solar cells for self-powered electronic devices.</i> Energy & Environmental Science, 2020. <b>13</b>(3): p. 685-743.