Printing Perovskite Solar Cells: Reducing Toxicity and Improving Scalability

在太阳能电池的研究领域中，超导太阳能电池是最新和最令人兴奋的材料之一。在10年多一点的时间里，他们的实验室规模效率从8%提高到25%以上，与市场领先的硅太阳能电池不相上下。然而，经过十年的关注和投资，这种潜在的革命性太阳能电池还没有进入市场。钙钛矿的商业化有几个重要的障碍，主要是：1。钙钛矿材料的稳定性问题，2。对使用铅等有毒元素的担忧，以及3。过渡到可扩展的制造工艺的问题。为了克服这些障碍，我们提出了一种更全面的方法来设计和制造钙钛矿太阳能电池，该方法考虑了毒性和可扩展性，以及优化过程中的电效率。该项目的目的是开发安全，稳定和可印刷的钙钛矿太阳能油墨。这将通过开发锡基钙钛矿太阳能电池和探索在溶剂系统中使用离子液体来创造可用于喷墨打印机的稳定无毒墨水来实现。离子液体是钙钛矿加工的一种令人印象深刻的新溶剂选择，表现出许多有利的特性，如溶解性，低毒性和稳定性。最有前途的是它们的粘度的可调性，这是印刷和薄膜加工油墨配方的关键参数，但仍有待探索。目标是在大气条件下完全打印锡基钙钛矿太阳能电池。这将是一种革命性的太阳能电池产品，不含有害材料，更容易回收，并且可以以更低的成本制造。

Perovskite solar cells are one of the newest and most exciting materials in the world of solar cell research. In little over 10 years their lab scale efficiencies have advanced from 8% to over 25%, putting them on a par with market leading silicon solar cells. However, after a decade's worth of interest and investment, this potentially revolutionary solar cell has not made it on to the market yet. There are several important barriers to commercialisation for perovskites, principally: 1. Issues with stability of perovskite materials, 2. Concerns around the use of toxic element such as lead, and, 3. Issues in transitioning to scalable manufacturing processes. In order to overcome these barriers, we propose a more holistic approach to design and fabrication of perovskite solar cells, which considers both toxicity and scalability, as well electrical efficiency during the optimisation process. The aim of this project to develop safe, stable and printable perovskite solar inks. This will be achieved by developing tin-based perovskite solar cells and exploring the use of ionic liquids in the solvent system to create a stable non-toxic ink that can be used in an inkjet printer. Ionic liquids are an impressive new solvent option for perovskite processing, exhibiting many favourable properties, such as solubility, low toxicity and stability. Most promising of all is the tunability of their viscosity, a key parameter in ink formulation for printing and thin film processing, which is yet to be explored. The goal is to fully print a tin-based perovskite solar cell in atmospheric conditions. This will be a revolutionary solar cell product that contains no harmful materials, is more easily recyclable and can be fabricated at lower costs.