Vapor phase deposition of perovskite photovoltaics:Short track to commercialization?

While perovskite-based photovoltaics (PV) is progressing toward commercialization, it remains an open question which fabrication technology - solution-based, vapor-based, or combinations - will pave the way to faster economic breakthrough. The vast majority of research studies make use of solution-processed perovskite thin films, which benefit from a rapid optimization feedback and inexpensive to procure tools in modern research laboratories, but vapor phase deposition processes dominate today's established thin-film manufacturing. As research and development of vapor phase processed perovskite thin films are still strongly underrepresented in literature, their full potential is yet to be identified. In this collaborative perspective of academic influenced by industrial views, we convey a balanced viewpoint on the prospects of vapor-based processing of perovskite PV at an industrial scale. Our perspective highlights the conceptual advantages of vapor phase deposition, discusses the most crucial process parameters in a technology assessment, contains an overview about relevant global industry clusters, and provides an outlook on the commercialization perspectives of the perovskite technology in general.</p

Enhancing the driving field for plasmonic nanoparticles in thin-film solar cells

The scattering cross-section of a plasmonic nanoparticle is proportional to the intensity of the electric field that drives the plasmon resonance. In this work we determine the driving field pattern throughout a complete thin-film silicon solar cell. Our simulations reveal that by tuning of the thicknesses of silicon and transparent conductive oxide layers the driving field intensity experienced by an embedded plasmonic nanoparticle can be enhanced up to a factor of 14. This new insight opens the route towards more efficient plasmonic light trapping in thin-film solar cells.Electrical Sustainable EnergyElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc

All-perovskite tandem solar cells with 24.2% certified efficiency and area over 1 cm2 using surface-anchoring zwitterionic antioxidant

Monolithic all-perovskite tandem solar cells offer an avenue to increase power conversion efficiency beyond the limits of single-junction cells. It is an important priority to unite efficiency, uniformity and stability, yet this has proven challenging because of high trap density and ready oxidation in narrow-bandgap mixed lead–tin perovskite subcells. Here we report simultaneous enhancements in the efficiency, uniformity and stability of narrow-bandgap subcells using strongly reductive surface-anchoring zwitterionic molecules. The zwitterionic antioxidant inhibits Sn2+ oxidation and passivates defects at the grain surfaces in mixed lead–tin perovskite films, enabling an efficiency of 21.7% (certified 20.7%) for single-junction solar cells. We further obtain a certified efficiency of 24.2% in 1-cm2-area all-perovskite tandem cells and in-lab power conversion efficiencies of 25.6% and 21.4% for 0.049 cm2 and 12 cm2 devices, respectively. The encapsulated tandem devices retain 88% of their initial performance following 500 hours of operation at a device temperature of 54–60 °C under one-sun illumination in ambient conditions.This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61974063, 61921005), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (14380168), National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFB1500102), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20190315), Basic Research Program of Frontier Leading Technologies in Jiangsu Province, Program for Innovative Talents and Entrepreneur in Jiangsu and Thousand Talent Program for Young Outstanding Scientists in China. The work of Y.H., M.W. and E.H.S. is supported by US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (N00014-20-1-2572). V.Y. and M.I.S. acknowledge the support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)

Vapor phase deposition of perovskite photovoltaics: short track to commercialization? †

Acknowledgements: The work performed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) Agreement Number DE-EE0009017 and NREL, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under contract number DE-AC36-08GO28308. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes. The authors furthermore acknowledge the support by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany under grant agreement 03EE1123A (project SHAPE) as well as the European Union through HORIZON EUROPE Research and Innovation Actions under grant agreement number 101075330 (project NEXUS). Views and opinions expressed are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible. Financial support for the creation of the cover artwork by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy of the Republic of Korea under the grant agreement 202300302107 was highly appreciated. The authors further recognize the kind worldwide support by the many companies in the field of perovskite-based photovoltaics that contributed to the industry survey and gave us first-hand insights into the commercialization of this technology.While perovskite-based photovoltaics (PV) is progressing toward commercialization, it remains an open question which fabrication technology – solution-based, vapor-based, or combinations – will pave the way to faster economic breakthrough. The vast majority of research studies make use of solution-processed perovskite thin films, which benefit from a rapid optimization feedback and inexpensive to procure tools in modern research laboratories, but vapor phase deposition processes dominate today's established thin-film manufacturing. As research and development of vapor phase processed perovskite thin films are still strongly underrepresented in literature, their full potential is yet to be identified. In this collaborative perspective of academic influenced by industrial views, we convey a balanced viewpoint on the prospects of vapor-based processing of perovskite PV at an industrial scale. Our perspective highlights the conceptual advantages of vapor phase deposition, discusses the most crucial process parameters in a technology assessment, contains an overview about relevant global industry clusters, and provides an outlook on the commercialization perspectives of the perovskite technology in general