Scalable Fabrication of Perovskite Solar Cells to Meet Climate Targets

Cost modeling shows that high-throughput processing of perovskite solar cells is required not only to compete with incumbent technologies in terms of levelized cost of energy, but more importantly, it is the major enabling factor facilitating sustainable growth rates of solar cell manufacturing capacity commensurate with global climate targets. We performed rapid thermal annealing at blade-coating speed to quickly deposit and convert perovskite thin films for scalable manufacturing of perovskite solar cells. In situ X-ray diffraction during film deposition and thermal conversion gave insight into the formation of crystalline inter-mediates, essential for high-quality films. Parameters were optimized based on the in situ study, allowing perovskite films to be annealed within 3s with a champion power conversion efficiency of 16.8%. This opens up a clear pathway to-ward industrial-scale high-throughput manufacturing, which is required to fulfill the projected photovoltaic installation rates needed to reach climate goals.