Perovskite solar cells will soon become even more stable and efficient

In the future, a lot depends on generating electricity sustainably and in large quantities. In addition to the already increasing consumption of the industrialized countries, new consumers are added every day, be it through births or an emerging country that is rising to become an industrialized nation. It is therefore particularly important that power generation technologies work efficiently and over the long term.

Researchers at Brown University have now found a way to make perovskite solar cells more durable. It is important to know that every perovskite cell consists of five or more layers that have different purposes in the process of generating electricity. Since each layer consists of a different material, they also react differently to external influences.

As a result, when it is hot, for example, the various layers expand to different degrees, resulting in a certain amount of pressure acting on the overall structure, which can lead to long-term damage. This is problematic because perovskite cells have clear advantages over silicon cells. On the one hand, surfaces are up to 400 times thinner than their silicon counterparts, on the other hand, production can take place at room temperature (silicon requires extreme heat).

So the scientists first identified the weakest link, i.e. the place where damage is most likely to occur. Here the absorbed light is passed on to the transport layer, compounds known as self-assembling monolayers (SAMs) play an important role in this. By adapting the composition of these SAMs, it was possible to strengthen the structure and at the same time even make the cell even more efficient at an affordable price.

After 700 hours, the cell still achieved over 80 percent of its peak performance; at the same time, the structure remained stable and functional even after 1,300 hours. That doesn’t sound like much at first, but it is a big step in the right direction in this area, so that in the near future we will generate less carbon dioxide in the production and installation of solar cells.

Own opinion:

Electricity from solar systems will make up a large part of the electricity mix of the future, so it is all the more important that better and more easily producible materials are found for the future. In the long term, the goal should be for a solar cell to be climate-neutral from production to recycling, because this is the only way to sustainably stop climate change.

Via Electrek