CBE colloquia -  - Open-Air Spray-Plasma Manufacturing of Large-Area Perovskite Solar Cells and Modules

Open-air plasmas provide opportunities for versatile and low-cost materials synthesis and 
film deposition on large and/or complex shapes in laboratory air and at low temperature. The 
generally solvent-free process further allows for the simultaneous functionalization of, and deposition 
on, substrates in a single step. Advances in the use of jet plasma process together with precursor spray 
deposition have further expanded the utility of the deposition technique for a range of multi-functional 
films. 
In this talk I will describe our labs work to develop and demonstrate a scalable open-air plasma 
process to rapidly deposit and form perovskite cells and modules in open air at fast linear deposition 
rates. The process uses a combination of reactive species, UV and thermal energy to rapidly form the 
perovskite film after air spraying, forming high quality perovskite films. I will further mention 
solution combustion processing of conducting oxide layers, and an indirect laser scribing technique 
we have developed to efficiently form serially interconnected perovskite cells to form modules. 
Finally, I will describe technoeconomic modeling of module manufacturing costs and LCOE 
estimates for pilot scale solar installations. I will discuss important aspects related to the stability of 
perovskite cells and modules and implications for module lifetimes.