Negligible-Pb-Waste and Upscalable Perovskite Deposition Technology for High-Operational-Stability Perovskite Solar Modules

An upscalable perovskite film deposition method combining raster ultrasonic spray coating and chemical vapor deposition is reported. This method overcomes the coating size limitation of the existing stationary spray, single-pass spray, and spin-coating methods. In contrast with the spin-coating method (>90% Pb waste), negligible Pb waste during PbI ₂ deposition makes this method more environmentally friendly. Outstanding film uniformity across the entire area of 5 cm × 5 cm is confirmed by both large-area compatible characterization methods (electroluminescence and scattered light imaging) and local characterization methods (atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, photoluminescence mapping, UV–vis, and X-ray diffraction measurements on multiple sample locations), resulting in low solar cell performance decrease upon increasing device area. With the FAPb(I _0.85 Br _0.15 ) ₃ (FA = formamidinium) perovskite layer deposited by this method, champion solar modules show a power conversion efficiency of 14.7% on an active area of 12.0 cm ² and an outstanding shelf stability (only 3.6% relative power conversion efficiency decay after 3600 h aging). Under continuous operation (1 sun light illumination, maximum power point condition, dry N ₂ atmosphere with <5% relative humidity, no encapsulation), the devices show high light-soaking stability corresponding to an average T ₈₀ lifetime of 535 h on the small-area solar cells and 388 h on the solar module.