Low-cost, High Efficiency, and Flexible Perovskite Solar Modules by Fast Blade Coating

Marine Corps need expeditionary renewable power system which can be achieved with flexible solar cells mounted on light weight semi-rigid substrates. These system can harness energy from sunlight that support U.S. Marines operation in Arabian Desert. To develop lightweight, flexible solar modules for field energy generation, new photovoltaic technologies beyond silicon are urgently needed. Perovskite photovoltaic technology developed in the last decade is catching up with silicon in terms of power conversion efficiency (PCE). The lab cell PCEs have exceeded 25% for single junction perovskite solar cells, and 28% for perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells. Perovskite solar cells can beat silicon based ones in flexibility and cost due to much lower cost of raw materials and fabrication cost. In addition, perovskite modules have shown much smaller reduction of efficiency with increasing temperature, and much more resistant to shading induced module damage. The next question is wheher the high efficiencies and good stability of the small size perovskite cells generated in lab can be transferred to modules by high throughput manufacturing. Here by leveraging the pioneering development of perovskite mini-modules at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Perotech and UNC propose to scale up the manufacturing with an advanced stacking structure. This device structure and selection of materials allow fast manufacturing of perovskite solar modules in open-air environment at room temperature at low cost.