Perovskite solar cells promise to be part of the future portfolio of photovoltaic technologies, but their instability is slow down their commercialization. Major stability assessments have been recently achieved but reliable accelerated ageing tests on beyond small-area cells are still poor. Here, we report an industrial encapsulation process based on the lamination of highly viscoelastic semi-solid/highly viscous liquid adhesive atop the perovskite solar cells and modules. Our encapsulant reduces the thermomechanical stresses at the encapsulant/rear electrode interface. The addition of thermally conductive two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride into the polymeric matrix improves the barrier and thermal management properties of the encapsulant. Without any edge sealant, encapsulated devices withstood multifaceted accelerated ageing tests, retaining >80% of their initial efficiency. Our encapsulation is applicable to the most established cell configurations (direct/inverted, mesoscopic/planar), even with temperature-sensitive materials, and extended to semi-transparent cells for building-integrated photovoltaics and Internet of Things systems.

Semitransparent perovskite solar cells (ST-PSCs) are increasingly important in a range of applications, including top cells in tandem devices and see-through photovoltaics. Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) are commonly used as transparent electrodes, with sputtering being the preferred deposition method. However, this process can damage exposed layers, affecting the electrical performance of the devices. In this study, an indium tin oxide (ITO) deposition process that effectively suppresses sputtering damage was developed using a transition metal oxides (TMOs)-based buffer layer. An ultrathin (<10 nm) layer of evaporated vanadium oxide or molybdenum oxide was found to be effective in protecting against sputtering damage in ST-PSCs for tandem applications, as well as in thin perovskite-based devices for building-integrated photovoltaics. The identification of minimal parasitic absorption, the high work function and the analysis of oxygen vacancies denoted that the TMO layers are suitable for use in ST-PSCs. The highest fill factor (FF) achieved was 76%, and the efficiency (16.4%) was reduced by less than 10% when compared with the efficiency of gold-based PSCs. Moreover, up-scaling to 1 cm²-large area ST-PSCs with the buffer layer was successfully demonstrated with an FF of ∼70% and an efficiency of 15.7%. Comparing the two TMOs, the ST-PSC with an ultrathin V₂O_x layer was slightly less efficient than that with MoO_x, but its superior transmittance in the near infrared and greater light-soaking stability (a T₈₀ of 600 h for V₂O_x compared to a T₈₀ of 12 h for MoO_x) make V₂O_x a promising buffer layer for preventing ITO sputtering damage in ST-PSCs.

Perovskite/Silicon tandem technology represents a promising route to achieve 30% power conversion efficiency (PCE), by ensuring low levelized costs energy. In this article, we develop a mechanically stacked 2T perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell, with subcells independently fabricated, optimized, and subsequently coupled by contacting the back electrode of the mesoscopic perovskite top cell with the texturized and metalized front contact of the silicon bottom cell. The possibility to separately optimize the two sub-cells allows to carefully choose the most promising device structure for both top and bottom cells. Indeed, semitransparent perovskite top cell performance is boosted through the use of selected two-dimensional materials to tune the device interfaces. In addition, a protective buffer layer is used to prevent damages induced by the transparent electrode sputtering deposition over the hole transporting layer. A textured amorphous/crystalline silicon heterojunction cell fabricated with a fully industrial in-line production process is here used as state of art bottom cell. The perovskite/c-Si tandem device demonstrates remarkable PCE of 28.7%. Moreover, we demonstrate the use of a bifacial silicon bottom cell, as a viable way for overcoming the current matching constrain imposed by the 2T configuration. Here, the current generation difference between perovskite and c-Si cells is compensated by exploiting the albedo radiation thanks to the bifaciality of the commercial c-Si cell used in this article. Considering standard rear irradiation, final power generation density above 32 mW/cm ² can be achieved, paving the way for a tandem technology customable according to the final installation site.

Semitransparent perovskite solar cells (ST-PSCs) for tandem applications typically use a buffer layer deposited via atomic layer deposition (ALD) to protect the cell stack from the damage induced by the sputtering of the transparent electrode. Here, we present a simple yet effective solution-processed buffer layer based on metal-oxide nanoparticles to mitigate sputter-induced damage. We exploit this strategy in a monolithic tandem integrating the optimized ST-PSC on a polished front-side/unpolished rear-side p-type silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cell. The intrinsic roughness on the backside significantly boosts the absorption, thus suppressing the need for a dedicated texturization step and leading to a final maximum efficiency of 25.3%. Our findings highlight the potential of solution-processed buffer layers as a practical and scalable solution to mitigate the sputtering damage, as well as the potential of silicon wafers with an unpolished rear surface for enhanced photocurrent.

Perovskite technology has been advancing at unprecedented levels over the past years, with efficiencies reaching up to 26.1%. State-of-the-art results are obtained on a very small area scale (<0.1 cm ² ), by adopting high materials wasting processes not compatible with industry and with market exploitation. Silicon is a well-established technology and one of the advantages of perovskite is its ability to pair with silicon forming a tandem device that extracts charges reducing transmission and thermalization losses. In this work, we focused on finding a strategy to fabricate 15.2 × 15.2 cm ² perovskite modules by using blade/slot-die coating and avoiding any spin coating deposition. Furthermore, we optimized the indium tin oxide top electrode deposition by adjusting the sputtering process and buffer layer deposition; finally, we focused on light management by applying an antireflective coating. We obtained a semitransparent and a tandem silicon–perovskite module in a four-terminal (4T) configuration over 225 cm ² (4T configuration) with 13.18% and 20.91% efficiency, respectively, passing International Summit on Organic PV Stability ISOS-L1 (under continuous light soaking in the air) test with a remarkable T ₈₀ of 1459 h.