University of Surrey researchers have produced solar cell building blocks out of perovskite ink. Current inks do not guarantee seamless transitions on an industrial scale, as the manufacturing process needs to be highly controlled and optimized. That is why the team developed a perovskite ink that presents a fast and reproducible way to fabricate these solar cell building blocks on a mass scale.
The new study examines the foundation blocks of solar cells made of perovskite rather than the traditional silicon. the development of perovskite precursor inks suitable for use at low-temperature and vacuum-free solution-based deposition processes is reported in the new study. These inks can be further tailored according to the requirements of the deposition method, i.e., their use with the industrially viable deposition technique of slot-die coating. Furthermore, a route for the preparation of low-cost and high-volume manufacturing of perovskite films on both rigid and flexible substrates is suggested in the paper. The presented approach is suitable for the fabrication of any functional layers of perovskites, that can be employed in various scaled applications, and it seeks the potential and the methodology for perovskite film deposition that is scalable to industrial standards.
Professor Ravi Silva, Director of the ATI at the University of Surrey, said: "The University of Surrey has always believed in the potential of solar panels to be a critical research area which will, in time, allow us to move away from dangerous old energy sources. However, we must do more to improve the connection between research and production on a mass industry scale in order to see this as a future turning point, which is the purpose of our paper."
