Blade‐Coating with Engineered Evaporation Kinetics Enables Scalable Perovskite Photovoltaics with Minimal Efficiency Loss

The blade-coating method has become an important technology that can be expanded to manufacture perovskite solar photovoltaics. However, the inherent conflict between rapid solvent removal and crystallization control in ambient blade-coating process fundamentally constrains the production throughput and film quality of perovskite solar modules. Here, a ternary solvent system (DMF/NMP/2-methoxyethanol) with hierarchical volatility gradients is developed, synergistically integrated with vacuum-flash evaporation to decouple nucleation and crystal growth kinetics. Specifically, 2-methoxyethanol (2-ME) enables vacuum flash-induced supersaturation for templated nucleation, while NMP facilitates strain-relaxed grain coalescence, and DMF ensures optimal ink rheology. This approach yields pinhole-free films with enlarged grains under ambient conditions (T = ≈30 ± 5 °C, RH = 30 ± 10%). The blade-coated n-i-p perovskite solar cells (active area: 0.08 cm<sup>2</sup>) achieve a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 23.24%, and 5 × 5 cm<sup>2</sup> mini-modules (12 cm<sup>2</sup> active area) reach 22.12%, with merely 4.8% efficiency loss upon 150 times area upscaling. The devices exhibit improved stability, retaining 90% of their initial PCE after 800 h of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) at 25 °C. The approach establishes a unified solution that addresses crystallization precision, ambient compatibility, and industrial manufacturability in perovskite photovoltaics.

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Publication Details

Journal
Small Methods
Published
2025-04-08
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/smtd.202500141
Citations
2
Primary Topic
Perovskite Materials and Applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.46

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article

Blade‐Coating with Engineered Evaporation Kinetics Enables Scalable Perovskite Photovoltaics with Minimal Efficiency Loss

Kezhou Fan, Man Yue Lam, Chenghao Duan, Huan Guo et al.
2 citations
Small Methods
Perovskite Materials and Applications
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article

Blade‐Coating with Engineered Evaporation Kinetics Enables Scalable Perovskite Photovoltaics with Minimal Efficiency Loss

Kezhou Fan, Man Yue Lam, Chenghao Duan, Huan Guo, Shibing Zou, Kam Sing Wong, Keyou Yan, Yuyan Dong, Ligang Yuan
article en
2 citations

Abstract

The blade-coating method has become an important technology that can be expanded to manufacture perovskite solar photovoltaics. However, the inherent conflict between rapid solvent removal and crystallization control in ambient blade-coating process fundamentally constrains the production throughput and film quality of perovskite solar modules. Here, a ternary solvent system (DMF/NMP/2-methoxyethanol) with hierarchical volatility gradients is developed, synergistically integrated with vacuum-flash evaporation to decouple nucleation and crystal growth kinetics. Specifically, 2-methoxyethanol (2-ME) enables vacuum flash-induced supersaturation for templated nucleation, while NMP facilitates strain-relaxed grain coalescence, and DMF ensures optimal ink rheology. This approach yields pinhole-free films with enlarged grains under ambient conditions (T = ≈30 ± 5 °C, RH = 30 ± 10%). The blade-coated n-i-p perovskite solar cells (active area: 0.08 cm<sup>2</sup>) achieve a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 23.24%, and 5 × 5 cm<sup>2</sup> mini-modules (12 cm<sup>2</sup> active area) reach 22.12%, with merely 4.8% efficiency loss upon 150 times area upscaling. The devices exhibit improved stability, retaining 90% of their initial PCE after 800 h of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) at 25 °C. The approach establishes a unified solution that addresses crystallization precision, ambient compatibility, and industrial manufacturability in perovskite photovoltaics.

Small MethodsVol. 9(8)
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HK), State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, University of Hong Kong (HK), South China University of Technology (CN), Nanchang Hangkong University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, South China University of Technology, Guangdong Provincial Applied Science and Technology Research and Development Program, National Key Research and Development Program of China, Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 18%
Perovskite Materials and Applications
1.46
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