Nonthermal laser ablation of high-efficiency semitransparent and aesthetic perovskite solar cells

Perovskite solar cells (PSC) offer a promising solution for building integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs) due to its high photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE). However, increasing the transparency of their functional layers dramatically decreases the PCE. Here, a computer controlled laser patterning method was proposed to directly turn PSC modules into semitransparent and with aesthetic artificial pattern, without additional complexities to the conventional PSCs fabrication process. A structured ST-PSC achieving a champion PCE of 17.5% with average visible transparency (AVT) of 18.2%, and a mini-module with 5 x 5 cm(2) delivering a PCE of 9.1% with AVT of 37.7% were demonstrated. Rationally designed aesthetic patterns were imprinted on mini-modules, achieving a PCE of 14.4%. These results reveal a new route for low-cost facile fabricating high performance large-area aesthetic BIPV modules, and represent a big step forward toward the fabrication of solar cells with high efficiency and high transparency.