Metal Halide perovskites have emerged as highly promising candidates for photovoltaics with the certified record power conversion efficiency (PCE) reaching 26.1% for single-junction perovskite solar cells (PSCs)1. However, to date, most of the reported highly efficient PSCs were obtained based on the regular n-i-p architectures at the laboratory scale, i.e., typically ~0.1 cm2 2-5, which are not suitable for upscaling. Inverted p-i-n cells, on the other hand, are attractive for upscaling due to their architecture simplicity at relatively low material cost and potentially high stability, however, their PCE still lags behind the n-i-p counterparts6,7. Therefore, our work has been focused on improving the efficiency of p-i-n cells and scaling them to produce efficient and stable modules. To push the PCE of cells, we developed a dual interface passivation strategy which led to a champion PCE of 24.3% for small-area cells and a champion PCE of 22.6% for a 3.63 cm2 mini-module. Next, we developed a bladed-coated interlayer to passivate the NiOx/perovskite interface. As a result, PCEs of 21.8% and 20.5% are demonstrated for cells of 0.13 cm2 and 1 cm2, respectively. The scalability of this p-i-n architecture is successfully demonstrated, achieving aperture area module efficiencies of 19.7%, 17.5%, and 15.5% for minimodules of 4 cm2, 16 cm2, and 100 cm2, respectively. Furthermore, we have upscaled up our baseline process and device stack to large-area modules. We fabricated bi-facial (781 cm2) perovskite solar modules exhibiting a power conversion efficiency of 16.3%, respectively. Moreover, the bi-facial mini-module retained ~ 92% of initial PCE after 1000 h of standard IEC 61215-based damp heat (85 °C, 85% relative humidity) test.

References

1NREL Best Research-Cell Efficiencies Chart. Accessed on May 10, 2023.

2 Min, H. et al. Perovskite solar cells with atomically coherent interlayers on SnO2 electrodes. Nature 598, 444–450 (2021).

3 Zhao, Y. et al. Inactive (PbI2)2RbCl stabilizes perovskite films for efficient solar cells. Science 377, 531–534 (2022).

4 Zhang, T. et al. Ion-modulated radical doping of spiro-OMeTAD for more efficient and stable perovskite solar cells. Science 377, 495–501 (2022).

5 Kim, M. et al. Conformal quantum dot–SnO2 layers as electron transporters for efficient perovskite solar cells. Science 375, 302–306 (2022).

6 Jiang, Q. et al., Surface reaction for efficient and stable inverted perovskite solar cells, Nature 611, 278–283 (2022).

7 Li, Z et al., Organometallic-functionalized interfaces for highly efficient inverted perovskite solar cells. Science 376, 416–420 (2022).