Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have achieved a technological breakthrough and built a perovskite solar cell with the dual benefits of being both highly efficient and highly stable.
The work was carried out in collaboration with scientists from the University of Toledo, the University of Colorado-Boulder and the University of California-San Diego.
A unique architectural structure allowed researchers to record a certified stabilized efficiency of 24% under single-sun illumination, making it the highest of its kind. The highly efficient cell also retained 87% of its original efficiency after 2,400 hours of operation at 55 degrees Celsius.
The article, “Surface Reaction for Efficient and Stable Inverted Perovskite Solar Cells,” appears in the journal Nature. The NREL authors are Qi Jiang, Jinhui Tong, Ross Kerner, Sean Dunfield, Chuanxiao Xiao, Rebecca Scheidt, Darius Kuciauskas, Matthew Hautzinger, Robert Tirawat, Matthew Beard, Joseph Berry, Bryon Larson, and Kai Zhu.
Perovskite, which refers to a crystalline structure, has emerged over the past decade as an impressive way to efficiently capture sunlight and convert it into electricity. Research on perovskite solar cells has largely focused on how to increase their stability.
“Some people can demonstrate perovskites with high stability, but the efficiency is lower,” said Zhu, senior scientist at NREL’s Center for Chemistry and Nanoscience. “You have to have high efficiency and high stability simultaneously. It’s a challenge.”
The researchers used an inverted architecture, rather than the “normal” architecture that has so far yielded the highest yields. The difference between the two types is defined by the way the layers are deposited on the glass substrate. The inverted perovskite architecture is known for its high stability and integration into tandem solar cells. The NREL-led team also added a new molecule, 3-(aminomethyl)pyridine (3-APy), to the surface of the perovskite. The molecule reacted with the formamidinium in the perovskite to create an electric field on the surface of the perovskite layer.
“It suddenly gave us a huge boost not only in terms of efficiency but also stability,” Zhu said.
Scientists have reported that 3-APy reactive surface engineering can improve the efficiency of an inverted cell from less than 23% to more than 25%. They also noted that reactive surface engineering stands out as an effective approach for dramatically improving inverted cell performance “to new levels of state-of-the-art efficiency and operational reliability.”
Funding for research done at NREL comes from the Center for Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Semiconductors for Energy (CHOISE), an Energy Frontier Research Center within the DOE’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences and the DOE’s Office of Solar Energy Technologies.
NREL is the US Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for the Department of Energy by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.
Research report:Surface reaction for efficient and stable inverted perovskite solar cells
Related links
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
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A major breakthrough for stable, high-efficiency perovskite solar cells
Linkoping, Sweden (SPX) 07 Sep 2022
Solar cells made from materials known as “perovskites” are catching up with the efficiency of traditional silicon-based solar cells. At the same time, they have the advantages of low cost and short energy payback time. However, these solar cells have stability issues – something that researchers at Linkoping University, together with international collaborators, have now managed to solve. The results, published in Science, are a major step forward in the search for next-generation solar cells. … Read more