Toward Efficient and Fully Scalable Sputtered NiO_x-Based Inverted Perovskite Solar Modules via Co-Ordinated Modification Strategies

Sputtered nickel oxide (NiOx ) has become one of the most promising inorganic hole transport layers for p-i-n perovskite solar cells (PSCs) due to its appealing features such as its robust nature, low material cost, and easy integration to tandem structures and large-area applications. However, the main drawback with NiOx -based PSCs is typically low open-circuit voltage ( V-OC ) due to the inferior energy-level alignment, low charge mobility, and high recombination at the interface. Herein , two types of phosphonic acid self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) deposited by blade coating as an interfacial layer to modulate the sputtered NiOx /perovskite interface properties are used. While sputtered NiOx serves as a conformally coated hole selective layer, the ultrathin SAM interlayer facilitates the hole extraction and minimizes the energy loss at the interface. Co-ordinately introduced stabilizing additive, namely octadecyl 3-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)propionate (I-76), further improves the device performance of NiOx/SAM-based PSCs, resulting in V-OC of 1.14 V and a power conversion efficiency of 21.8%. By applying these strategies for perovskite module upscaling, aperture area module efficiencies of 19.7%, 17.5%, and 15.5% for perovskite minimodules of 4, 16, and 100 cm(2) are demonstrated, corresponding to active area module efficiencies of 20.4%, 18.0%, and 16.4%, respectively.