Investigating the Fabrication of Perovskite Solar Cells by Ultrasonic Spray Coating: A Design of Experiments Approach

Abstract

The incrementally rising efficiency of perovskite-basedphotovoltaicdevices has established technology as a hot topic in past years. Transitioningthis class of materials from laboratorial to commercial applicationis key to the future of clean energy generation. In the interest ofthis transition, scalable fabrication and reproducibility are challengesto be overcome. Additionally, being a highly dynamic field with fast-pacedinnovation, perovskite research lacks in structured comprehensivestudies focusing on the processing parameters, especially when comparedto commercial technologies, such as silicon-based devices. This studyproposes a design of experiments (DoE) approach to analyze and optimizethe fabrication of perovskite thin films by ultrasonic spray coating,a scalable technique. The investigation of deposition parameters onefactor at a time (OFAT) and the more in-depth full factorial analysisof three key input variables allowed the assessment of the impactlevel of each factor on the quality and performance of the obtainedfilms of the fabricated photovoltaic devices. Furthermore, the fullfactorial analysis reveals the presence of interactions between factors.The study revealed that a shorter distance between the air gun andthe sample (2 cm) coupled with high gas pressure (7.6 bar) duringthe quenching step were the most influential parameters for the productionof high-quality films, leading to an average efficiency of 14.8%.