Ambient-Air Fabrication of Triple-Cation Mixed-Halide Perovskite Cells with High-Speed Doctor-Blade Printing by PEG as Ink Additive and Triton X-100 as ETL Surface Modifier

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have garnered significant attention over the past two decades due to their efficiency comparable to that of silicon solar cell technology. However, several challenges remain, such as finding a suitable upscaling process to fabricate high-quality perovskite films. Additionally, strict requirements exist, such as controlling the atmosphere for perovskite ink formation and deposition to create perovskite films with good surface coverage, crystallinity, and lower defect density and thickness. Almost all the highly efficient PSCs are deposited in inert gas (N2) with the lowest amount of moisture by the spin coating process, which has a long annealing period; these strict conditions will limit the mass production of the PSCs in ambient air and their dimensions. In this research, a vacuum-assisted meniscus high-speed doctor-blade printing approach followed by rapid thermal annealing employing an air-gun in only 3 s was performed to fabricate triple-cation mixed halide perovskite solar cells in ambient air with midterm humidity (35–55%). To mitigate the negative effects of environmental moisture on the formation of a high-quality perovskite film, a combination of surface treatment on the ETL by Triton X-100 and the addition of PEG to the perovskite ink was employed. By using this method, the average power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the reference sample with no surface treatment and additive experienced a significant increase from 3.10 to 10.75% for the best sample with surface treatment and additive.