Researchers have developed new chemistry to achieve commercially relevant stability and performance for perovskite solar cells.
Solar power is not only the fastest growing energy technology in recent history but also one of the cheapest energy sources and the most impactful in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.) -- the type of crystal currently used to make the highest-efficiency perovskite solar cells -- into ultrastable, high-quality photovoltaic films.
"Perovskite crystals get broken in two ways: chemically -- destroying the molecules that make up the crystal -- and structurally -- reordering the molecules to form a different crystal," said Isaac Metcalf, a Rice materials science and nanoengineering graduate student and a lead author on the study."Of the various crystals that we use in solar cells, the most chemically stable are also the least structurally stable and vice versa.
Although it is the most widely used semiconductor in photovoltaic cells, silicon entails manufacturing processes that are more resource-intensive than those of emerging alternatives. Among these, halide perovskites stand out for their soaring efficiencies, which have gone from 3.9% in 2009 to over 26% currently.
Mohite underscored that advancements in solar energy technologies and infrastructure are critical for achieving the greenhouse gas emissions 2030 target and preventing a 1.5 degrees Celsius rise in global temperatures, which"would then set us on the right course to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050."
"I would like to give a lot of credit to Siraj, who started this project based on a theoretical idea by Professor Jacky Even at the University of Rennes," Mohite said."I would also like to thank our collaborators at the national labs and at several universities in the U.S. and abroad whose help was instrumental to this work."
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