I-Corps: Perovskite solar photovoltaics and continuous flash sublimation manufacturing

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of solar devices based on metal-halide perovskite semiconductors. For perovskite solar modules, applications include transport (e.g., drones), indoor devices (e.g., sensors), or high-altitude and space applications where silicon devices are too expensive, heavy, or not efficient enough. Recent estimates indicate the market for indoor photovoltarics could reach $1B annually by 2024. Silicon is not cost competitive today ($50-100/m2) and cannot reach 30% efficiency indoors, a requirement for commercial success. Satellite and high-altitude drone applications are nascent and rapidly growing. Thin film perovskite photovoltaics have a natural advantage over crystalline silicon photovoltaics in drone technologies. Perovskite solar cells have demonstrated high power-per-weight performance (23 kW/kg), a key metric for these applications. Continuous flash sublimation is highly tunable and controllable, enabling the materials to be optimized to enable manufacturing methods.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a new manufacturing method – continuous flash sublimation (CFS) – for the mass-scale production of perovskite-based optoelectronic devices. Translating conventional lab-scale perovskite solution-processing methods to large-scale manufacturing is challenging due to the use of solvents. CFS is a vapor-based process that does not use solvents. In addition, CFS is safe, fast, simple, inexpensive, and scalable, which will allow it to be readily incorporated into existing high-throughput commercial manufacturing lines. CFS manufacturing may significantly lower the integration barrier associated with the production of perovskite semiconductors for solar power production, as well as for solid state lighting, display technology, and X-ray detection for medical sensors.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.