Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV24)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.hopv.2024.206
Publication date: 6th February 2024
Lead- based perovskite materials are a braking trough technology in the use of optoelectronics devices, which in particularly for solar cells have achieved an efficiency close to 26 % for lab scale devices. However, the toxicity of Pb to the environment and human health, hampers the commercialization of this technology. Therefore, other non-toxic elements have been employed to substitute the highly hazardous Pb in the perovskite structure. Among the candidates, tin-based perovskites (Sn-PS) are the promising alternatives for the development of highly efficient and low-cost photovoltaics based on low-toxicity materials. However, one of the main limitations for Sn-PS is the easy oxidation of Sn+2 into Sn+4 upon the exposure to ambient conditions and even during the film and device preparation, which promotes degradation mechanisms and compromises the quality and long-term stability of the material.
Besides this intrinsic challenge, most studies have focused on spin coating as the main deposition method for the absorber layer, which is not compatible with large area manufacturing techniques like roll-to-roll or sheet-to-sheet. In this work, we have successfully deposited Sn-PS films trough bladecoating technic; ink engineering of the solvent system and additives were used as a strategy to control the crystallization dynamics and nucleation to obtain pinhole-free films on flexible substrates. This strategy allows us to deposit successfully uniform FASnI3 films onto polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sheets up to 700 cm2. Our findings demonstrate how to upscale Tin-based perovskites with a simple method; thinking on how to commercialize lead-free perovskites.
The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 862656.