Flexible back-contact perovskite solar cells on plastic substrates

Grant funding 2020-2022
Ministry of Education and Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan

The purpose of this project is to establish a laboratory for fabrication and characterization of flexible optoelectronic devices at Nazarbayev University (NU). Tasks and outcomes of this proposal will have a significant role in establishing and pursuing the status of NU as a center of excellence for research and development of light-weight thin film PV technologies towards future large-scale industrial production.

The concept of back-contact perovskite devices promises significant technological advantages over conventional sandwich architectures. Unlike conventional sandwich-type perovskite solar devices, this new back-contact approach effectively solves the problem of perovskite layer sensitivity to the device fabrication process, reduces optical loss, and allows illumination of the cell from both sides. This makes this technology suitable for tandem devices and smart windows applications. The similarity in the photophysical properties of perovskites and melt-grown III-V semiconductors (e.g. silicon and gallium arsenide) and a number of recent theoretical modeling studies suggest that perovskite devices with high perovskite efficiency (~30%)) can only be achieved using back-contact design for device architecture.

Computer modeling of back-contact perovskite solar cells is carried out. Successful fabrication of back-contact perovskite solar cells on rigid and flexible substrates is achieved. Flexible perovskite solar cells are fabricated using printing methods. A comprehensive characterization and investigation of the properties of obtained devices are carried out.