A research team led by Researcher Lu Jianfeng of Wuhan University of Technology published a research paper titled "Scalable Fabrication of High-Performance Perovskite Solar Cell Modules by Mediated Vapor Deposition" in the journal Advanced Materials. Team member Wang Yulong serves as the first author, and Researcher Lu Jianfeng serves as the corresponding author.
Key Highlight: The team introduced a low-sublimation amidinoammonium salt, benzidine hydrochloride (BMCl), into the perovskite precursor vapor to address limitations in scaling up to produce high-efficiency, large-area modules. The team achieved PCEs of 22.1% (1 cm²), 21.1% (12.5 cm²), and 20.1% (48 cm²) for large-area modules.
Vapor deposition methods are limited in their application to scaling up to produce high-efficiency, large-area modules due to a severe imbalance between the gas-solid reaction kinetics and the mass transfer of the volatile ammonium salt precursor. To address this issue, the team of researcher Lu Jianfeng proposed that an amidine-based low-dimensional perovskite be introduced as an intermediate in the solid-vapor reaction to help address this limitation. This improved reaction pathway produced unique vertical monolithic particles with no detectable horizontal boundaries, which were used to produce 1.0 cm2 PSCs with an efficiency of 22.1%, as well as 12.5 and 48 cm2 modules with efficiencies of 21.1% and 20.1%, respectively. After 900 hours of continuous operation (ISO-L-1 protocol), these modules retained approximately 85% of their initial performance; after 2800 hours of ambient storage (ISO-D-1 protocol), they retained approximately 100% of their initial performance.

Figure 2. Nucleation and crystallization of BMCl-mediated perovskites. A) Low-angle regions of the XRD patterns of the BMCl-mediated perovskite films prepared by vapor deposition over varied periods of time (complete diffractograms are shown in Figure S6, Supporting Information); peak assignment is as follows: ɑ-Cs_0.16FA_0.84PbI_2.84Br_0.16 – green triangle, PbI₂ – red circle, (BM)₂FAPb₂I₅Cl₂ – black asterisk, CsPbI_3-xBr_x – open diamond. B) Peak intensity as a function with different reaction periods. The sample structure is FTOǀSnO₂ǀperovskite. C) Schematic diagram of 2D (BM)₂FAPb₂I₅Cl₂

induced nucleation crystallization process. Fluorescence lifetime imaging measurements of perovskite films: D) control, and E) BMCl-mediated.

Figure 3. Performance of 1.0 cm²-cells based on chemical vapor deposited perovskite. A) Cross-sectional SEM image of a typical n–i–p PSC with an architecture of FTO|SnO₂|Cs_0.16FA_0.84PbI_2.84Br_0.16|spiro-OMeTAD|Au fabricated using the BMCl-mediated method; scale bar = 1 μm. B) J–V curves (0.10 V s⁻¹) of the best-performing cells and C) PCE distributions extracted from J–V scans (scanning from 1.2 to −0.1 V, 20 independent cells for each type; D) quasi-steady-state power output (qSPO) and corresponding steady-state current output. All photovoltaic data were recorded under simulated AM 1.5G 1 sun illumination.

Figure 4. Performance and stability of perovskite modules based on chemical vapor deposited perovskite. A,B) I–V curves of the best-performing (A) 5 cm × 5 cm (with a 12.5 cm² mask) and (B) 10 cm × 10 cm (with a 48 cm² mask) modules measured under simulated AM 1.5G 1 sun illumination; scanning rate 0.5 V s⁻¹. The inset of (A) shows qSPOs of modules based on perovskite film fabricated by regular (blue) or BMCl-mediated (red) process. The inset of (B) shows a qSPO of BMCl-mediated modules. C) Maximum power point tracking presented as normalized PCE for encapsulated 5 cm × 5 cm modules under ambient conditions and continuous 100 mW cm⁻² illumination (LED) following the ISOS-L-1 protocol. D) Evolution of the normalized PCE of non-encapsulated 5 cm × 5 cm modules stored under ambient conditions according to the ISOS-D-1 protocol; data are shown as mean (symbols) ± standard deviation (shading) for 4 independent modules, while lines are guides to the eye. Detailed performance data for panels (C-D) are provided in Figure S26 and Table S6 (Supporting Information).