(Perovskite) Solar cells more efficient thanks to new material standing on edge

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http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/solar-cells-more-efficient-thanks-to-new-material-standing-on-edge
Solar cells more efficient thanks to new material standing on edge

Researchers from Lund University in Sweden and from Fudan University in China have successfully designed a new structural organization using the promising solar cell material perovskite. The study shows that solar cells increase in efficiency thanks to the material’s ability to self-organise by standing on edge.

Published on May, 23, 2017

The current research study deals with perovskite, a new and promising material in the context of solar cells. However, in its regular form, the material is very sensitive to moisture. It simply dissolves in contact with water, and even normal humidity deteriorates the material within hours or minutes. Now the researchers appear to have overcome that problem.

“We have succeeded in producing thin sheets with a water-repelling surface, making the whole construction much more stable. In addition, we have succeeded in orienting the sheets so as to obtain acceptable solar cells, with an efficiency of ten per cent”, says Tönu Pullerits, professor of chemical physics at Lund University.

Tönu Pullerits sees great development potential for solar cells based on perovskite, thanks to the outcome of the current study. The researchers not only built thin sheets out of the material to achieve water-repelling surfaces but also discovered, to their surprise, that these perovskite sheets self-organised in a way that clearly increased efficiency.

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Thanks to the self-organising structure of the sheets, the electrons were able to move freely between the contacts, considerably increasing the efficiency of converting the solar energy to electricity. Tönu Pullerits sees the result as an important step on the way to constructing stable and efficient solar cells out of perovskite.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201700162