Chinese-Swiss researchers declare path to cheaper clean energy with advance in perovskite solar cell manufacture
- Emerging photovoltaic technology has long been dogged by complex preparation, high cost and poor stability
- New PSC could be manufactured on a large scale competitively, team reported in Science journal
The high-performing perovskite solar cell (PSC) is an emerging photovoltaic technology but it has long been dogged by complex preparation, its high cost and instability.
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However, scientists at the Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in China, and from the Swiss Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne have proved greater PSC stability when the technology is scaled up.
Their paper detailing the research was published in the peer-reviewed journal Science on January 19.
“Although the power conversion efficiency of some PSCs can now exceed 25 per cent, such high efficiencies have been obtained only with small-area PSCs,” said Professor Li Yong of HUST, a leading author of the paper.
“[As the surface area increases], film unevenness, energy losses from photocurrent collection and instability of the film escalate steeply with device area. Larger-area devices often have substantial performance losses,” he said.
The team improved the situation by introducing a fullerene derivative chemical agent called CPPA. It consolidates the crystal structure of perovskite films and enhances the tolerance of the film against illumination, heat, and moisture.