Selection of anti-solvent and optimization of dropping volume for the preparation of large area sub-module perovskite solar cells

•Influence of anti-solvents on surface coverage and crystallinity of perovskite film was systematically studied.•Anti-solvent with low dielectric and dipole moment is the most suitable one for fabricating perovskite solar cells.•Optimal volume ratio of the perovskite precursor to toluene as anti-solvent is 1:3.•Sub-model perovskite solar cells (active area: 11.25 cm2) shows a PCE of more than 11.5% with almost no J-V hysteresis.

Anti-solvents play a critical role on the preparation of perovskite active layers for photovoltaic applications. This work explores the treatment of various anti-solvents for adjusting the crystallinity and morphology of perovskite active layer. It is found that the anti-solvent with a low dielectric constant and dipole moment is the most suitable one for the preparation of perovskite layer. It is also noted that the optimal volume ratio of the perovskite precursor to toluene as an anti-solvent is 1:3. Using toluene as the anti-solvent, the perovskite solar cells (p-i-n type) are fabricated with a single cell and a sub-module within an active area of 0.10 cm2 and 11.25 cm2, respectively. Such display exhibits impressive power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of 13.12% and 11.60% with negligible J-V hysteresis, respectively, under the illumination of 100 mW/cm2 (AM1.5G).

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