The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to revolutionize the US solar cell market with low-cost and high-efficiency solar cells. The development of cost-effective and efficient solar power technologies is of national interest because solar power has broad potential to support US priorities such as economic growth and job creation, as well as mitigation of climate change. However, the cost of solar energy is still high, and technological innovations are needed to further lower costs and increase efficiency. The efficiency of perovskite solar cells has surged to over 22% in five years of research and now rivals that of CdTe and Si-based solar panels. Perovskite inks are made from Earth-abundant, inexpensive precursors and can be printed on plastic foils, which can significantly reduce their manufacturing and installation costs. However, before commercialization of this technology can be considered, device stability and the feasibility of reliable, scalable manufacturing of large-area panels have to be established. This project will bridge this critical knowledge gap and develop manufacturing technology that can compete in terms of cost and performance not only with other solar panels but also with conventional fossil fuel-based energy sources. This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop scalable, reliable, reproducible, and cost-effective technology to manufacture perovskite photovoltaic devices using an industry-proven slot die coating technique. Most research lab perovskite solar cell devices are fabricated via spin casting, and have a device area of less 1 sq. cm. Despite the impressive progress of this technology, its commercially viable scalability and reliability have not yet been demonstrated. In this project, slot-die coating will be used, which is a proven technology to be scalable for large area processing and robust for high-yield manufacturing in a wide range of applications. We will use the slot die coating method and air stable p-i-n devices architecture to manufacture perovskite solar panel with a target power conversion efficiency of 20%, operational lifetime of more than 10,000 hours, power-to-weight ratio of 1 kW/kg, and target manufacturing cost of less than $0.3/W, which is more than a 40% reduction in costs when compared to industry leading photovoltaic technologies.
