Scalable Blade Coating: A Technique Accelerating the Commercialization of Perovskite‐Based Photovoltaics

Abstract

Since the first report in 2009 with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.8%, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have become the hot research topic in the field of photovoltaics and rapidly achieved a certified PCE of 25.5% within just a decade. Compared to its counterparts such as single‐crystalline silicon solar cells or CIGS, PSCs present the obvious advantages of low cost and solution processability. However, the most efficient PSCs are mainly based on devices with an active area of less than 0.1 cm2 by a conventional spin‐coating method in the lab. To put forward the commercialization of PSCs, it is mandatorily required to manufacture a large‐scale PSC module with practical and scalable fabrication techniques. As one of the most viable and promising scalable techniques, the blade coating process with various types available (including doctor‐blade coating, slot‐die coating, roller coating) has been widely investigated due to many attractive merits of high PCE, easy operation, low cost with cheap facilities, and high materials utilization ratio. Herein, the challenges of fabricating large‐area PSCs and manipulation of film quality for highly efficient PSCs fabricated with blade coating are introduced and discussed.

Processing methods towards scalable fabrication of perovskite solar cells: A brief review.

“…This results in a reduced rate of evaporation, which in turn results in reduced rates of nucleation and growth [114]. Blade coating depends heavily on the temperature of the substrate, the speed at which the coating is applied, and the concentration of the precursors [115]. Moisture in the air posed the greatest processing difficulty [116].…”

High-performance large-area blade-coated perovskite solar cells with low ohmic loss for low lighting indoor applications

“…Solvent mixtures of DMSO and gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) were previously used to fabricate PSCs with the PCE of about 18% 20,21 . Further development of the blade-coating techniques for PSCs fabrication is commonly considered as one of the most promising steps towards largescale commercial applications of PSCs 2,[22][23][24][25] .…”