The Problem:
Organic-inorganic halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have been gaining a lot of attention since it was first fabricated in 2009 owing to their high-power conversion efficiency (PCE) and relatively simple fabrication process. The efficiency of PSCs has crossed 25.5% in just over a decade. A typical PSC has a structure that contains a transparent electrode, electron transport layer (ETL), perovskite layer, hole transport layer (HTL), and noble metal electrode. The use of HTL and noble metal electrode is unavoidable as is evident from the fact that all reported works with efficiency over 20% have these two layers.
The Solution:
This technology consists of a method of creating high-efficiency and low-cost perovskite solar cells quickly and efficiently. These cells are processed at low temperatures. Carbon-based composite electrodes are created using solvent exchange which is then sputter-coated with gold nanoparticles. This resultant composite electrode is hot-pressed onto a perovskite hole transfer layer. Using screen printing and hot pressing, the creation of flexible thin-film perovskite solar cells can be completed in only five minutes. These composite electrode cells can reach efficiencies of 16.87% nominally.
Benefits:
• The hot press and screen print are quick and low-cost methods of manufacture.
• The use of low temperature materials allow for an ease of handling and fast manufacturing.
• Significantly reduces the solar cell fabrication time from hours to minutes.
• Performance can reach power conversion efficiency of approximately 17-18%.
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