Fabrication of Perovskite Solar Cells: A Focused Review on Manual Deposition Methods

Abstract

This study provides an overview of manual deposition methods in the fabrication of perovskite solar cells, including drop casting, blade coating, spray coating, soft applicator, and other innovative methods. These methods can easily be tested in all laboratories at a small cost without buying expensive deposition equipment and can be a point of entry for researching this exciting field. Furthermore, new ideas and methods are first mostly developed and tested manually, and then automation happens at a second stage where precision engineering takes over. The latter typically enables higher performance and large‐scale manufacturing. This underlies the importance of implementing and understanding manual fabrication and providing a comparison of manual vs automation modes, which is the objective of this review. The analysis will be of interest to all those researchers wanting to understand or implement conventional or innovative manual methods for fabricating perovskite solar cells and their benefits as well as performance limitations compared to their automated counterparts.