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Can Roll-to-Roll technology pave the way for perovskite devices to transition from lab-scale to industrial applications? It is a technique that has the potential to enhance throughput, reduce costs, and accommodate flexible substrates. In a Roll-to-Roll system, as long as your input materials are continuously topped up, manufacture should continue indefinitely. In its simplest form it offers the premise of Ink-IN / Solar module-OUT. Through this comment, we emphasize the critical need for ongoing innovation to fully harness Roll-to-Roll technology’s capabilities, making perovskite solar energy a viable, sustainable option on a global scale. Roll-to-Roll (R2R) coating is a technology that potentially enhances throughput, reduces costs, and accommodates flexible substrates for fabricating various types of solar cells and modules. Here, authors discuss the R2R revolution to tackle the industrial leap for perovskite photovoltaic devices.

Metal-halide perovskites have been widely investigated in the photovoltaic sector due to their promising optoelectronic properties and inexpensive fabrication techniques based on solution processing. Here we report the development of inorganic CsPbBr 3 -based photoanodes for direct photoelectrochemical oxygen evolution from aqueous electrolytes. We use a commercial thermal graphite sheet and a mesoporous carbon scaffold to encapsulate CsPbBr 3 as an inexpensive and efficient protection strategy. We achieve a record stability of 30 h in aqueous electrolyte under constant simulated solar illumination, with currents above 2 mA cm −2 at 1.23 V RHE . We further demonstrate the versatility of our approach by grafting a molecular Ir-based water oxidation catalyst on the electrolyte-facing surface of the sealing graphite sheet, which cathodically shifts the onset potential of the composite photoanode due to accelerated charge transfer. These results suggest an efficient route to develop stable halide perovskite based electrodes for photoelectrochemical solar fuel generation. While photoelectrochemical cells may offer access to solar fuels from a single integrated device, halide perovskite photoelectrodes are difficult to use due to their inherent moisture sensitivity. Here, the authors protect perovskite photoanodes with graphite sheets to boost their stability in water.

The fully printable carbon triple-mesoscopic perovskite solar cell (C-PSC) has already demonstrated good efficiency and long-term stability, opening the possibility of lab-to-fab transition. Modules based on C-PSC architecture have been reported and, at present, are achieved through the accurate registration of each of the patterned layers using screen-printing. Modules based on this approach were reported with geometric fill factor (g-FF) as high as 70%. Another approach to create the interconnects, the so-called scribing method, was reported to achieve more than 90% g-FF for architectures based on evaporated metal contacts, i.e., without a carbon counter electrode. Here, for the first time, we adopt the scribing method to selectively remove materials within a C-PSC. This approach allowed a deep and selective scribe to open an aperture from the transparent electrode through all the layers, including the blocking layer, enabling a direct contact between the electrodes in the interconnects. In this work, a systematic study of the interconnection area between cells is discussed, showing the key role of the FTO/carbon contact. Furthermore, a module on 10 × 10 cm2 substrate with the optimised design showing efficiency over 10% is also demonstrated.

The fully printed, hole-transporter-free carbon perovskite solar cell structure incorporating a triple mesoscopic layer has emerged as a possible frontrunner for early industrialisation. It is an attractive structure because it can be fabricated by the simple sequential screen printing and sintering of titania, zirconia, and carbon. The device is finalised by manual dropping of a perovskite precursor solution onto the carbon which subsequently infiltrates. This stage in device fabrication is inhomogeneous, ineffective for large areas, and prone to human error. Here we introduce an automated deposition and infiltration system using a robotic dispenser and mesh which delivers the perovskite precursor uniformly to the carbon surface over a large area. It has been successfully used to prepare perovskite solar cells with over 9% efficiency. Cells, prepared by this robotic mesh deposition, showed comparable performance to reference cells, made by standard drop deposition, confirming this approach to be effective and reliable. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy were used to confirm the uniformity of the deposition over a large area.

As the rise of nonfullerene acceptors (NFA) has allowed lab‐scale organic solar cells (OSC) to reach 20% efficiency, translating these devices into roll‐to‐roll compatible fabrication still poses many challenges for researchers. Among these are the use of green solvent solubility for large‐scale manufacture, roll‐to‐roll compatible fabrication, and, not least, information on charge carrier dynamics in each upscaling step, to further understand the gap in performance. In this work, the reproducibility of champion devices using slot‐die coating with 14% power conversion efficiency (PCE) is demonstrated, under the condition that the optimal thickness is maintained. It is further shown that for the donor:acceptor (D:A) blend PM6:Y12, the processing solvent has a more significant impact on charge carrier dynamics compared to the deposition technique. It is found that the devices processed with o‐xylene feature a 40% decrease in the bimolecular recombination coefficient compared to those processed with CB, as well as a 70% increase in effective mobility. Finally, it is highlighted that blade‐coating yields devices with similar carrier dynamics to slot‐die coating, making it the optimal choice for lab‐scale optimization with no significant loss in translation toward up‐scale. Here, organic photovoltaics using slot‐die coating deposition method and green solvents delivering power conversion efficiencies of 14% are shown. It is found that the processing solvent has a more significant impact on charge carrier dynamics compared to the deposition technique. It is highlighted that blade‐coating yields similar carrier dynamics to slot‐die coating, making it the optimal choice for lab‐scale optimization.

Among different perovskite solar cell architectures, the carbon-based perovskite solar cell (C-PSC) is a promising candidate for upscaling and commercialization related to low-cost components and simple manufacturing methods. For upscaling a PV technology, three parameters must be considered, corresponding to efficiency, stability, and cost. While the efficiency and lifetime of perovskite technology are the focus of many research groups, the cost parameter is less studied. This work aims to provide information on the manufacturing cost of C-PSC based on experimental data in order to give the readers a panoramic overview of parameters influencing a fabrication process. To analyze the commercialization viability of this technology, we estimated the cost of raw materials and the manufacturing process for sub-modules using two different methods: registration and scribing. The fabrication cost of a sub-module fabricated using the scribing method with 7.9% efficiency was approximately 44% less than that of a device with 6.8% efficiency prepared using registration. We demonstrated that this is due to both the design parameters and performance. In addition, we showed a 51% cost reduction for registration devices by appropriate choice of solar cell components, fabrication steps, and equipment based on the existing infrastructures for the manufacturing of large-scale devices.

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have already achieved comparable performance to industrially established silicon technologies. However, high performance and stability must be also be achieved at large area and low cost to be truly commercially viable. The fully printable triple-mesoscopic carbon perovskite solar cell (mCPSC) has demonstrated unprecedented stability and can be produced at low capital cost with inexpensive materials. These devices are inherently scalable, and large-area modules have already been fabricated using low-cost screen printing. As a uniquely stable, scalable and low-cost architecture, mCPSC research has advanced significantly in recent years. This review provides a detailed overview of advancements in the materials and processing of each individual stack layer as well as in-depth coverage of work on perovskite formulations, with the view of highlighting potential areas for future research. Long term stability studies will also be discussed, to emphasise the impressive achievements of mCPSCs for both indoor and outdoor applications.

The rising demand for renewable energy solutions has accelerated interest in semi-transparent solar cells (STSCs) for emerging applications such as building-integrated photovoltaic, automotive systems, and wearable electronics. Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) show considerable promise as STSCs due to their high performance, cost-effectiveness, solution processability, compatibility with flexible substrates, and transparency of perovskite films. Collaborative efforts have been directed towards developing transparent top electrodes (TTEs) and device architectures for PSCs to enhance the performance and transparency. The choice of top electrode materials significantly influences the performance and transparency of semi-transparent perovskite solar cells (STPSCs). Various materials such as dielectric/metal/dielectric (DMD) layers, metal thin film, metal nanowires, transparent conducting oxide (TCO), conductive polymers (e.g., PEDOT: PSS), graphene, and carbon nanotubes have been identified as potential TTEs. TCO, DMD, and metal thin film electrodes typically require sputtering or thermal deposition methods; others are solution-processable. The material selection and thickness of the top electrode play crucial roles in improving both the efficiency and transparency of PSC devices, posing challenges in optimising device performance while maintaining high transparency. This review comprehensively covers the essential material characteristics required for top electrodes in STPSCs; surveys reported top electrode materials and discusses their characterisation, stability, scalability, current challenges, and prospects.

Perovskite solar cells hold promise for cost-effective, high-efficiency renewable energy generation; yet their commercialization is hindered by progress towards scalable fabrication methods. Roll-to-roll processing is a promising solution for large-scale production, and the incorporation of Roll-to-roll coated carbon electrodes offers several additional advantages, including low-cost manufacturing and high-stability. Introducing a compatible hole transporting layer between perovskite and carbon significantly improves performance. Here we present a study comparing four interlayers (Spiro-MeOTAD, PTAA, PEDOT, and P3HT) in printed devices, assessing efficiency, stability, and scalability. Our results reveal that spiro-MeOTAD and PTAA was not compatible with the carbon electrode however PEDOT and P3HT showed promising results. Beyond photovoltaic performance, comparison of P3HT and PEDOT in terms of stability, toxicity, and cost reveals that P3HT can be a superior choice for scaling up manufacturing. These findings offer valuable insights for optimizing perovskite solar cells performance in scalable production via roll-to-roll printing.Hole transporting layers between carbon electrodes and perovskite improves the performance of perovskite solar cells. Here, four interlayer materials are assessed and compared for their performance in roll-to-roll printed perovskite solar cells.

Metastability is a characteristic feature of perovskite solar cell (PSC) devices that affects power rating measurements and general electrical behaviour. In this work the metastability of different types of PSC devices is investigated through current–voltage ( I – V ) testing and voltage dependent photoluminescence (PL-V) imaging. We show that advanced I – V parameter acquisition methods need to be applied for accurate PSC performance evaluation, and that misleading results can be obtained when using simple fast I – V curves, which can lead to incorrect estimation of cell efficiency. The method, as applied in this work, can also distinguish between metastability and degradation, which is a crucial step towards reporting stabilised efficiencies of PSC devices. PL-V is then used to investigate temporal and spatial PL response at different voltage steps. In addition to the impact on current response, metastability effects are clearly observed in the spatial PL response of different types of PSCs. The results imply that a high density of local defects and non-uniformities leads to increased lateral metastability visible in PL-V measurements, which is directly linked to electrical metastability. This work indicates that existing quantitative PL imaging methods and point-based PL measurements of PSC devices may need to be revisited, as assumptions such as the absence of lateral currents or uniform voltage bias across a cell area may not be valid.