Coating dynamics in two-step hybrid evaporated/ blade-coated perovskites for scalable fullytextured perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells

by Oussama Er-raji,, Ahmed A. Said, Anand S. Subbiah, Vladyslav Hnapovskyi, Badri Vishal, Anil R. Pininti, Marco Marengo, Martin Bivour, Markus Kohlstadt, Juliane Borchert, Patricia S. C. Schulze, Stefaan De Wolf, Stefan W. Glunz
Article Year: 2025

Abstract

Perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells hold great promise for wide-scale photovoltaic deployment. Despite the achievement of high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) exceeding 33%, the commonly used spincoating technique for perovskite deposition encounters substantial scalability challenges. To address this, we investigate the potential of the two-step hybrid evaporation/blade-coating method for perovskite manufacturing on silicon with industry-standard texturing. Combining experimental results with theoretical considerations on meniscus formation, we comprehensively analyze the influence of fluid mechanisms involved in the blade-coating process and find that the final perovskite film properties can be controlled through two main properties: wet film thickness and solvent's evaporation rate. Furthermore, the study finds that unlike one-step blade-coated perovskites, where increased speed results in a U-shaped, speed-dependent thickness for evaporation and Landau–Levich coating regimes, the hybrid evaporation/blade-coating method reveals a different S-shaped curve, correlating speed with perovskite conversion rate. Good perovskite properties of fully-textured perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells are demonstrated by open-circuit voltages exceeding 1900 mV and a PCE approaching 28%. This work identifies key challenges in scalable perovskite deposition with the hybrid method, deriving learnings that can be transferred to other meniscus-based hybrid industrial techniques, and reinforces the need for film optimization with scalable methods at the early R&D stage.

Keywords

Perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells hybrid evaporation/blade-coating scalable method