Predicting Low Toxicity and Scalable Solvent Systems for High Speed Roll-to-Roll Perovskite Manufacturing

This manuscript introduces solvent toxicity in solar perovskite ink chemistries as a major technoeconomic limitation for the growth of the technology. More specifically, the capital and operational cost of handling such toxic chemicals to maintain a safe working environment can lead to significant added costs. As all record power conversion efficiency devices to date have been solution processed, this represents a major challenge for the perovskite optoelectronic field and of printed electronics as a whole. Knowing this limitation, we propose that solvent selections for ink chemistries should be more quantitative and focus on lowering toxicity. To this end, we show that a Hansen solubility model is effective in predicting ink systems using lower toxicity solvents. We also show that inks formed from this method are applicable for high-speed slot-die coating, limiting the need for long anneal times. These methods and results demonstrate a useful framework for quantitatively engineering solvent systems with reduced toxicity while simultaneously maintaining and surpassing performance. It therefore provides a pathway and major step forward towards the commercialization of solution coated perovskite technologies.