Scalable deposition techniques for large-area perovskite photovoltaic technology: A multi-perspective review

Perovskite photovoltaic technology holds great promise for the solar energy industry due to its high efficiency and fascinating potentialities for low-cost production. However, overcoming stability and scalability challenges by addressing environmental concerns is crucial for their successful deployment in the market. While perovskite solar cells have shown promising power conversion efficiency and long-term lifetime once produced by using small-scale production facilities, the scaling up of the device production without losing in performance and stability, still remains a not-trivial task. As matter of the fact, research and development efforts are currently ongoing to bring the perovskite solar technology closer to the market. From this point of view, the choice and the optimization of a specific deposition method depends on several factors like scalability, cost-effectiveness, and peculiar requirements required by the featured application. In this review, a comprehensive description of deposition methods for large area substrate is provided followed by an exhaustive collection of the main published progresses on large area perovskite solar devices. In particular, the large-area compatible deposition techniques will be categorized in the two main families based on solution and physical deposition processes, while pros and cons of both families are investigated in view of their potentialities for low-cost and high-throughput industrial production. Not least, hybrid deposition methods combining specific features of both solution and vacuum deposition techniques will be suggested as a way to leverage both their advantages. In addition, the main characterization techniques for large area devices will be described as a powerful way to select the proper deposition technique for supporting the development of commercial product based on perovskite technology. The opened challenges and the new routes for moving perovskite from lab to fab are finally suggested and discussed.