Back-Contact Electrode Fabrication via Scalable Photolithography and Potential Uses for in-situ Characterization of Perovskite Solar Cells

Sonia R. Raga^a^,^b, Siqi Deng^b, Boer Tan^b, Anthony S. R. Chesman^c^,^d, Jiangfeng Lu^b^,^e, David P. McMeekin^b, Qingdong Ou^f, Andrew D. Scully^c, Kevin J. Rietwyk^b, Anton Weissbach^b^,^g, Boya Zhao^b, Nicolas H. Voelcker^c^,^d^,^h^,ⁱ, Yi-Bing Cheng^j, Xiongfeng Lin^b, Udo Bach^b^,^c^,^d

^aCatalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Campus de la, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICN2, Av. de Serragalliners, s/n,, Bellaterra, Spain

^bARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

^cCSIRO Manufacturing, Clayton, Australia, Clayton VIC 3168, Australia, Clayton, Australia

^dMelbourne Centre for Nanofabrication, Australia, Australia

^eState Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architecture, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Rd, Wuhan, 430070, China

^fDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3800 Australia, Wellington Rd, Clayton, Australia

^gInstitut für Angewandte Photophysik, TU Dresden, George-Bähr-Str. 1, Dresden, 1069, Germany

^hDrug Delivery, Disposition and Dynamics, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences

ⁱINM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Campus D2 2, Saarbrücken, Germany

^jState Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology

NIPHO
Proceedings of International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics and Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics (NIPHO23)

Pavia, Italy, 2023 May 15th - 16th

Organizers: Giulia Grancini and Silvia Colella

Invited Speaker, Sonia R. Raga, presentation 005
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.nipho.2023.005
Publication date: 3rd April 2023

In back-contact electrode (BCE) perovskite solar cells (PSCs) architecture, the anode, cathode and selective layers coexist in the bottom perovskite interface while the top surface remains exposed. This results in two main advantages; first, it eliminates the parasitic light-absorption losses that are inherent to conventional sandwich-architecture devices and, second, it enables the use of in-situ characterization of the perovskite layer with techniques that are limited by the opaque metal electrode or top selective layers. However, the fabrication methods for these unconventional architectures rely heavily on expensive photolithography, which limits scalability. We present an alternative cost-effective microfabrication technique in which the conventional photolithography process is replaced by microsphere lithography in which a close-packed polystyrene microsphere monolayer acts as the patterning mask for the honeycomb-shaped electrodes.^[1] Using microsphere lithography, we achieve highly efficient devices having a stabilized power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.6%, twice the reported value using photolithography. Microsphere lithography also enabled the fabrication of the largest back-contact PSC to date, with an active area of 0.75 cm² and a stabilized PCE of 2.44%. We will provide a comprehensive overview of the particularities of BCE on the device optoelectronic performance and suggest applications for in-situ/operando measurements.

References:

[1] Deng, S.; Tan, B.; Chesman, A. S. R.; Lu, J.; McMeekin, D. P.; Ou, Q.; Scully, A. D.; Raga, S. R.; Rietwyk, K. J.; Weissbach, A.; Zhao, B.; Voelcker, N. H.; Cheng, Y.-B.; Lin, X.; Bach, U., Back-Contact Perovskite Solar Cell Fabrication via Microsphere Lithography. Nano Energy 2022, 102, 107695.

[2] Lin, X.; Lu, J.; Raga, S. R.; McMeekin, D. P.; Ou, Q.; Scully, A. D.; Tan, B.; Chesman, A. S. R.; Deng, S.; Zhao, B.; Cheng, Y. B.; Bach, U., Balancing Charge Extraction for Efficient Back‐Contact Perovskite Solar Cells by Using an Embedded Mesoscopic Architecture. Advanced Energy Materials 2021, 11 (21).

Acknowledgements:

This work was financially supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) the
Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) and the Australian Research Council (ARC, DE220100154). This work was performed in part at the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication (MCN) in the Victorian Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF). The authors acknowledge use of facilities within the Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy (MCEM). The authors acknowledge use of facilities within the Flexible Electronics Laboratory (FEL) at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Clayton site. S.R.R. acknowledges the support from “la Caixa” Foundation (ID 100010434) with fellowship code LCF/BQ/PI20/11760024 and Grant [PID2021-122349OA-I00] funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”.

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