Efficiency - Page 38

An international team of researchers, including ones from Brown University, EPFL, Dalian University of Technology and Shaanxi Normal University, has developed a flexible thin-film perovskite solar cell with an efficiency of 21.0%.

The perovskite layer for the cell, which has an “n-i-p” layout, was fabricated using a metal-halide capping layer placed on top of a three-dimensional metal-halide perovskite film. This design reportedly provides hermetically sealed encapsulation, which is traditionally difficult to achieve in flexible perovskite cells, and also enhances the photocarrier properties at the interface between the perovskite film and the hole transport layer (HTL).

Researchers at the New York University (NYU) have designed a perovskite solar cell using a doping technique based on carbon dioxide (CO₂) instead of the commonly used oxygen doping approach.

The scientists described the common oxygen-based p-type doping process as one of the major hurdles to remove to bring perovskite closer to commercial production, as the technique is particularly time consuming and often requires hours to spread oxygen into a hole transporting layer of a perovskite cell.

An international team of scientists from ICN2, EPFL, Eindhoven University of Technology, University of Cambridge, Max-Planck Institute for polymer Research and several other institutions have fabricated perovskite solar cells which retained almost all of their initial 21% efficiency after 1,000 hours under continuous operation at their maximum power point.

The researchers attribute this performance to an additive that ‘blocked’ ions that cause device degradation, 3-phosphono propionic acid (H3pp), which served to greatly improve device stability with no observable effects on its solar performance. The team hopes this new work will contribute to an improved understanding of the relationship between efficiency and stability in perovskite PV.

Scientists from Pennsylvania State University, Shaanxi Normal University, Hubei University and the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command have designed a semi-transparent perovskite solar cell that reached 19.8%, and 28.3% in a tandem cell stacked on top of a silicon-heterojunction device. The device is based on a film of gold just a few atoms thick, grown using an innovative seeding method, which is both highly conductive and transparent.

The team investigated, in their new study, a new method to grow a very thin, continuous layer of gold onto a perovskite solar cell as the top electrode layer. Despite the fact that gold is a rare and expensive material, the group is convinced its approach offers an alternate, efficient route to fabricating perovskite and tandem solar cells.

The following is a sponsored post by TCI

Tokyo Chemical Industry Company Limited (TCI) is now offering new hole selective self-assembled monolayer (SAM) forming agents, 2PACz [C3663], MeO-2PACz [D5798] and Me-4PACz [M3359] for high performance perovskite solar cells and OPVs.

The new materials enable efficient, versatile and stable p-i-n perovskite solar cell devices. These materials are useful for tandem solar cells as they grant conformal coverage on rough textures. In fact, a perovskite solar cell that uses the SAM hole transport layer can realize more than 20% efficiency without using dopants or additives. Perovskite-Silicon tandem solar cells that use Me-4PACz as a hole contact material realized 29.15% efficiency. Costs are lowered thanks to extremely low material consumption, and the processing is very simple and scalable.

Chinese perovskite module maker Microquanta has reported 20.2% conversion efficiency on a 20cm², 'third generation' solar cell. The Company said the result had been confirmed by Vhinese government's 'China Institute of Metrology'.

Microquanta said it takes stability and conversion efficiency as two fundamentals of perovskite solar modules and believes, with the help of improved efficiency and stability, the commercialization of such devices will be greatly accelerated.

Researchers at China's Huazhong University of Science and Technology have reported a perovskite solar module with an active area of 20.77cm².

Cross-sectional schematic illustration of the fabricated module coupled with the deposition methods of the functional layers. Image from Science Advances

The scientists used diphenyl sulfoxide (DPSO) as an electron acceptor and combined it with a formamidinium-cesium (FACs) perovskite precursor solution. 'DPSO is demonstrated to impressively enlarge the nucleation energy barrier, effectively retard the natural nucleation of perovskite during the slot-die coating process, and stabilize the wet precursor film,' they explained.

China-based perovskite photovoltaic module developer, UtmoLight, recently launched its new integrated solutions, named Utmorigin that reportedly enable large-area preparation, high efficiency and high stability of perovskite solar cells and include three novel techniques.

During the press conference held for the launch, UtmoLight signed strategic cooperation agreements with partners including SVOLT, an emerging lithium batteries company, FTXT which specializes in hydrogen energy and fuel cell technology, and Greatwall Estate. Together they will explore the application of perovskite solar technology in hydrogen production, energy storage, green construction and more.

The Graphene Flagship, a $1 billion European graphene initiative, has launched a new Spearhead Project called GRAPES, that aims to make cost-effective, stable graphene-enabled perovskite solar panels.

The project will set out to play an essential role in improving Europe's uptake of solar energy projects by improving the stability and efficiency of this technology when deployed on a large scale. As a European Commission funded project, the Graphene Flagship GRAPES initiative has been established to help Europe meet its ambitious sustainability goals.

A research team from Brown University has reported a major step toward improving the long-term reliability of perovskite solar cells. In the new study, the team demonstrated a 'molecular glue' that keeps a key interface inside cells from degrading. The treatment dramatically increases cells' stability and reliability over time, while also improving the efficiency with which they convert sunlight into electricity.

'There have been great strides in increasing the power-conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells,' said Nitin Padture, a professor of engineering at Brown University and senior author of the new research. 'But the final hurdle to be cleared before the technology can be widely available is reliability ' making cells that maintain their performance over time. That's one of the things my research group has been working on, and we're happy to report some important progress.'