Although small-area perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have reached remarkable power conversion efficiencies (PCEs), their scalability still represents one of the major limits toward their industrialization. For the first time, we prove that PSCs fabricated by thermal co-evaporation show excellent scalability. Indeed, our strategy based on material and device engineering allowed us to achieve the PCEs as high as 20.28% and 19.0% for 0.1 and 1 cm 2 PSCs and the record PCE value of 18.13% for a 21 cm 2 mini-module.

Carbon based perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are fabricated through easily scalable screen printing techniques, using abundant and cheap carbon to replace the hole transport material (HTM) and the gold electrode further reduces costs, and carbon acts as a moisture repellent that helps in maintaining the stability of the underlying perovskite active layer. An inorganic interlayer of spinel cobaltite oxides (CoO) can greatly enhance the carbon based PSC performance by suppressing charge recombination and extracting holes efficiently. The main focus of this research work is to investigate the effectiveness of CoO spinel oxide as the hole transporting interlayer for carbon based perovskite solar cells (PSCs). In these types of PSCs, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) is restricted by the charge carrier transport and recombination processes at the carbon-perovskite interface. The spinel CoO nanoparticles are synthesized using the chemical precipitation method, and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV-Vis spectroscopy. A screen printed thin layer of p-type inorganic spinel CoO in carbon PSCs provides a better-energy level matching, superior efficiency, and stability. Compared to standard carbon PSCs (PCE of 11.25%) an improved PCE of 13.27% with long-term stability, up to 2500 hours under ambient conditions, is achieved. Finally, the fabrication of a monolithic perovskite module is demonstrated, having an active area of 70 cm and showing a power conversion efficiency of >11% with virtually no hysteresis. This indicates that CoO is a promising interlayer for efficient and stable large area carbon PSCs.

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Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have emerged as a promising technology for next‐generation photovoltaics thanks to their high power‐conversion‐efficiency (PCE). Scaling up PSCs using industrially compatible processes is a key requirement to make them suitable for a variety of applications. Herein, large‐area PSCs and perovskite solar modules (PSMs) are developed based on co‐evaporated MAPbI3 using optimized structures and active area designs to enhance PCEs and geometrical fill factors (GFFs). Small‐area co‐evaporated PSCs (0.16 cm2) achieve PCE over 19%. When the PSCs are scaled‐up, the thin films high quality allows them to maintain consistent Voc and Jsc, while their fill factors (FF), which depend on the substrate sheet resistance, are substantially compromised. However, PSCs with active areas from 1.4 to 7 cm2 show a substantially improved FF when rectangular designs with optimized length to width ratios are used. Reasoning these results in the PSM design with optimal subcell size and for specific dead areas, a 6.4 cm2 PSM is demonstrated with a record 18.4% PCE and a GFF of ≈91%. Combining the high uniformity of the co‐evaporation deposition with active areas design, it is possible to scale up 40 times the PSCs with PCE losses smaller than 0.7% (absolute value).