Controllable Crystallization of Perovskite Films during the Blade-Coating Fabrication Process for Efficient and Stable Solar Cells

Abstract

The scalable production of high-quality perovskite thin films is pivotal for the industrialization of perovskite thin film solar cells. Consequently, the solvent system employed for the fabrication of large-area perovskite films via coating processes has attracted significant attention. In this study, a solvent system utilizing a volatile solvent as the primary reagent has been developed to facilitate the rapid nucleation of volatile compounds. While adding the liquid Lewis base dimethylformamide (DMF) can help to improve the microstructure of perovskite films, its slow volatilization renders the crystal growth process uncontrollable. Based on the solvent system containing DMF and ethanol (EtOH), introducing a small amount of NH4Cl increases the proportion of the intermediate phase in the precursor films. This not only results in a controllable growth process for the perovskite crystals but also contributes to the improvement of the film microstructure. Under the simulated illumination (AM1.5, 1000 W/m2), the photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of the inverted solar cells has been improved to 20.12%. Furthermore, after 500 hours of continuous illumination, the photovoltaic device can retain 95.6 % of the initial, indicating that the solvent system is suitable for the scalable fabrication of high-quality FAPbI3 thin films.