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Lead carboxylates passivation for meter-scale perovskite solar modules

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Why This Matters

This breakthrough demonstrates that stable lead carboxylates can effectively passivate large-area perovskite solar modules under ambient conditions, overcoming previous challenges related to humidity sensitivity and heterogeneous coating. The achievement of certified efficiencies exceeding 24% on meter-scale modules highlights a significant step toward commercial viability and scalable manufacturing of high-performance perovskite photovoltaics. This advancement could accelerate the adoption of cost-effective, high-efficiency solar energy solutions in the industry.

Key Takeaways

Environmentally sensitive ammonium halides have emerged as indispensable surface passivators for perovskite solar cells, demonstrating broadly effective performance at the laboratory scale1-4. However, the sensitivity of ammonium halides to humidity typically necessitates operation under an inert atmosphere5. Coupled with the heterogeneous distribution of passivators during large‑area slot‑die coating, applying such surface treatment techniques to the fabrication of meter‑scale perovskite solar modules under ambient conditions remains challenging. Here, we instead employ chemically stable lead carboxylates as passivators on perovskite films engineered to have a naturally-formed formamidinium iodide-enriched surface via a high-saturation vapor pressure solvent system (2-methoxyethanol, 1,3-dioxolane, and dimethyl sulfoxide). By treating tailored surface with lead dioleate to enhance carrier transport and surface passivation, we fabricated perovskite solar modules that achieved certified efficiencies of 24.0% (aperture area of 810 cm2) and 22.0% (total area of 0.72 m2) and passed all IEC 61215 reliability tests. These results represent the highest reported performance for scalable, industrially viable perovskite photovoltaics.