Laminated Perovskite Photovoltaics: Enabling large area processing of durable and high efficiency perovskite semiconductor thin films.

Introduction

Photovoltaic technologies are cornerstones of all future scenarios for sustainable energy supply. Enhancing the efficiency and reducing the costs of photovoltaics is a challenge of utmost urgency and importance to the research field of materials engineering and science.

Current Challenges

To date, hybrid organic–inorganic lead halide perovskite semiconductors denote the most promising material class for future low-cost and high-efficiency next-generation photovoltaics. Major hurdles that hinder the economic breakthrough are:

• The low stability of perovskite materials
• The large-area fabrication of high-quality perovskite thin films

Project Overview

In response, LAMI-PERO will break new ground by researching and developing a novel lamination process that is designed to enable:

1. The processing of unexplored perovskite semiconductors and heterostructures
2. More durable thin film morphologies
3. Novel high-efficiency device architectures

My team and I were among the first to report preliminary data on this lamination process. It combines two half-stacks in a high-pressure step and allows crystallizing the pre-deposited precursor materials into a high-quality perovskite thin film.

Advantages of the Lamination Process

Thereby, the lamination disentangles critical constraints of established sequential layer deposition.

Research Goals

To reach its ambitious goals, LAMI-PERO will:

1. Close the knowledge gap about the underlying physics of the perovskite film formation during the lamination process using innovative in-situ characterization
2. Explore more stable thin film morphologies and novel perovskite semiconductors
3. Fabricate more durable and high-efficiency perovskite solar cells and perovskite-based tandem solar cells
4. Demonstrate the scalability of the lamination process in view of future commercialization

Conclusion

To date, the lamination of perovskite thin films is largely unexplored, and the proposed research implies high risks but bears the enormous potential of paving the way for a breakthrough regarding the longevity and scalability of perovskite photovoltaics.