Quantifying Infiltration for Quality Control in Printed Mesoscopic Perovskite Solar Cells: A Microscopic Perspective

Mesoscopic carbon-based perovskite solar cells (CPSCs) are often cited as a potential frontrunner to perovskite commercialization. Infiltration, the extent to which perovskite fills the mesoporous scaffold, is critical for optimum performance and stability. However, infiltration data are usually presented as qualitative photographic comparisons of samples with extreme infiltration variation. This work examines how small infiltration defects impact performance using an optical microscopy examination of the base TiO₂ layer to identify issues and develop targeted techniques for infiltration enhancement. Critically, the uninfiltrated area at the base of the stack was found to correlate well with PCE across multiple batches of varied print quality and ZrO₂ thickness. Through reduction of mesh mark defects and improvement of print quality in the ZrO₂ and carbon layers, a champion PCE of 15.01% is attained. It follows that this facile, multiscaled, nondestructive technique could enable targeted performance enhancement and quality control in future scale-up initiatives.