Chemical-mechanical Co-design for scalable flexible perovskite manufacturing

Flexible perovskite photovoltaics have reached impressive laboratory efficiencies, but their path toward industrial reality remains fragmented. Conventional fabrication approaches treat chemistry and mechanics as independent variables, overlooking the fact that crystallization in roll-to-roll (R2R) processes occurs under continuous shear, substrate tension, and spatiotemporally varying evaporation fields. This Perspective proposes a chemical-mechanical co-design framework in which precursor solvation chemistry, ink rheology, and coating hydrodynamics are engineered as a coupled system. We discuss how mechanical fields such as shear strain, meniscus forces, and substrate bending, actively modulate nucleation, intermediate phase evolution, and stress relaxation. We further highlight how non-volatile/reactive solvent systems create broader crystallization windows compatible with high-speed slot-die coating. Finally, we outline how intelligent manufacturing, integrated sensing, and AI-assisted control can converge to unlock mechanically compliant, highly uniform, and truly scalable flexible perovskite modules.