First flexible perovskite solar cells on polycarbonate films

Nanowerk  September 14, 2024
Despite its widespread use in many applications, poor chemical resistance and roughness of polycarbonate (PC) has hindered its adoption as a substrate in solar cell technologies. An international team of researchers (Italy, Germany, Iran) developed a solution-processed planarizing layer using a commercial ambient-curable refractory resin through blade coating. Blade coating decreased film roughness from 1.46 µm to 23 nm, lowered water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) by a half, and significantly improved solvent resistance enabling deposition of precursor inks. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) reached 13.0%. The unencapsulated PSCs retained 80% of initial PCE after 1776 h upon ISOS-D-1 shelf-life tests. According to the researchers their results open new pathways for integrating solar cells in many products made from PC materials, such as ID cards, smart cards, windows, skylights, buildings, and product packaging and introduce a new solution for planarization and solvent barrier that can be used for other types of optoelectronic devices and substrates… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE