Simple and effective deposition method for solar cell perovskite films using a sheet of paper

Summary Most laboratories employ spin coating with application of antisolvent to achieve high efficiency in perovskite solar cells. However, this method wastes a lot of material and is not industrially usable. Conversely, large area coating techniques such as blade and slot-die require high precision engineering both for deposition of ink and for gas or for electromagnetic drying procedures that replace, out of necessity, anti-solvent engineering. Here we present a simple and effective method to deposit uniform high-quality perovskite films with a piece of paper as an applicator at low temperatures. We fabricated solar cells on flexible PET substrates manually with 11% power conversion efficiency. Deposition after soaking the sheet of paper in a green antisolvent improved the efficiency by 82% compared to when using dry paper as applicator. This new technique enables manual film deposition without any expensive equipment and has the potential to be fully automated for future optimization and exploitation.
Graphical abstract
Highlights • New method for depositing perovskite films with a piece of paper is demonstrated • Soaking paper applicator in antisolvent boosts efficiency of solar cells by 82% • Paper possesses right porosity and smoothness for deposition of high quality films • Flexible perovskite solar cell efficiency made manually via paper applicator is 11%
Electronic materials; Energy materials; Surface science