Journal of Energy Chemistry ›› 2023, Vol. 80 ›› Issue (5): 689-710.DOI: 10.1016/j.jechem.2023.02.017

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Solvent engineering towards scalable fabrication of high-quality perovskite films for efficient solar modules

Zhaoyi Jianga,1, Binkai Wanga,b,1, Wenjun Zhanga,1, Zhichun Yangc,d,*, Mengjie Lie, Fumeng Rena, Tahir Imrana, Zhenxing Suna, Shasha Zhangf, Yiqiang Zhangf, Zhiguo Zhaoe,*, Zonghao Liua,*, Wei Chena,*   

  1. aWuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China;
    bChina-EU Institute for Clean and Renewable Energy (ICARE), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China;
    cState Key Lab of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, Shanxi, China;
    dCollaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, Shanxi, China;
    eHuaneng Clean Energy Research Institute, Beijing, China;
    fSchool of Materials Science and Engineering & Henan Institute of Advanced Technology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, Henan, China
  • Received:2022-12-02 Revised:2023-01-28 Accepted:2023-02-02 Online:2023-05-15 Published:2023-05-29
  • Contact: * E-mail addresses: yangzhichun@sxu.edu.cn (Z. Yang), zg_zhao@qny.chng.com.cn (Z. Zhao), liuzonghao@hust.edu.cn (Z. Liu), wnlochenwei@mail.hust.edu.cn (W. Chen).
  • About author:1 These authors contributed equally to this work.
    Zhaoyi Jiang obtained his B.S. in physics in 2012 from Shanxi Datong University, China, and his M.S. from Hebei University, China. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from Beihang University. He is currently a post-doctor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His research mainly focuses on large-area PSCs and mod-ules.
    Zhichun Yang received his B.S. in 2014 from Yun Cheng University, China, his M.S. in 2017, and his Ph.D. in 2021 from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. He is currently an associate professor at State Key Lab of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, China. His research mainly focuses on semiconductor optoelectronic devices based on metal halide per-ovskites.
    Zhiguo Zhao received his B.S. in 2007 from Tsinghua University, Beijing, and his Ph.D. in 2012 from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing. He is currently employed at Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute as vice director of the Photo-voltaic Technology Department, Principal Investigator in Perovskite Photovoltaics, Standing Director of the Renewable Technologies Subcommittee of IEEE PES Energy Development and Power Generation Satellite Committee, Member of the Photovoltaic Committee of China Renewable Energy Society. His research mainly focuses on renewable energy technologies, especially perovskite photovoltaics.
    Zonghao Liu received his B.Sc. in 2011 and Ph.D. in 2016 from Huazhong University of Science and Tech-nology (HUST), China. He was a visiting student at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA, in 2015. From 2016 to 2017, he was a research assistant at Peking University, China. From 2017-2019, he worked as a postdoctoral scholar at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University in Japan. He is an associate professor at Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics of HUST. His current research focuses on optoelectronics devices based on inorganic/organic perovskites, especially perovskite solar cells.
    Wei Chen received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Materials Science and Engineering Department Tsin-ghua University. He worked as a Post-Doctoral Fellow-ship with the Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, from 2008 to 2010. In addition, he was a Visiting Scholar with the National Institute for Materials Science, Japan, from 2014 to 2015. He is currently a professor with the Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huaz-hong University of Science and Technology. His research interests cover synthesizing, understanding, and appli-cations of functional nanomaterials and semiconductor thin films in next-generation solar cells, including PSCs.

Abstract: Over the last decade, remarkable progress has been made in metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs), which have been a focus of emerging photovoltaic techniques and show great potential for commercial-ization. However, the upscaling of small-area PSCs to large-area solar modules to meet the demands of practical applications remains a significant challenge. The scalable production of high-quality perovskite films by a simple, reproducible process is crucial for resolving this issue. Furthermore, the crystallization behavior in the solution-processed fabrication of perovskite films can be strongly influenced by the physicochemical properties of the precursor inks, which are significantly affected by the employed sol-vents and their interactions with the solutes. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of solvent engineer-ing for fabricating perovskite films over large areas is urgently required. In this paper, we first analyze the role of solvents in the solution-processed fabrication of large-area perovskite films based on the classical crystal nucleation and growth mechanism. Recent efforts in solvent engineering to improve the quality of perovskite films for solar modules are discussed. Finally, the basic principles and future challenges of sol-vent system design for scalable fabrication of high-quality perovskite films for efficient solar modules are proposed.

Key words: Solvent engineering, Scalable fabrication, Perovskite film, Solar cell, Module