perovskite

Progress On Perovskite Solar Cells | Earth Wise

August 2, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

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Perovskites are semiconductors with a specific crystal structure. Their properties make them well suited for making solar cells. They can be manufactured at room temperature, using much less energy than it takes to make the silicon-based solar cells widely used today. As a result, perovskite solar panels would be cheaper and more sustainable to produce. Manufacturing silicon solar cells takes a lot of energy because silicon is forged at around 3000 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, perovskites can be made flexible and transparent, making it possible to use them in ways unavailable with silicon solar technology.

But unlike silicon, perovskites are very fragile. The early solar cells made from perovskites in 2009 and 2012 lasted for only minutes. Lots of potential, but little practicality.

Recently, Princeton Engineering researchers have developed the first perovskite solar cell with a commercially viable lifetime, which is a major breakthrough. The team projects that the device can perform above industry standards for about 30 years, which is much more than the 20 years designated as a viability threshold for commercial cells.

The research team has developed an ultra-thin capping layer between two of the layers of a perovskite solar cell. The layer is just few atoms thick but has been demonstrated to dramatically increase the durability of the device.

There is great potential for the new solar cell technology. It has efficiency to compete with silicon cells but can be tuned for specific applications and can be manufactured locally with low energy inputs. If successfully commercialized, the result will be solar panels that are cheaper, more efficient, and more flexible than what are available today.

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Once seen as fleeting, a new solar tech shines on and on

Photo, posted January 8, 2020, courtesy of David Baillot/UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

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Improving Solar Cells With Human Hair | Earth Wise

June 1, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology in Australia have been able to improve the performance of perovskite solar cells using material made from human hair.

Perovskite solar cells are an up-and-coming technology that offers the possibility of making solar cells less expensive, more efficient, and flexible so that there could be solar-powered clothing, backpacks, or even tents for camping. While the technology has been shown to be as effective in converting sunlight to electricity as currently available silicon technology, it faces problems with stability and durability.

The Australian research centered on the use of carbon nanodots to improve perovskite solar cell performance. The nanodots were created in a rather unique way. The carbon came from hair scraps from a Brisbane barbershop that were first broken down and then burned at nearly 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

By adding a solution of the carbon nanodots into the process of making the perovskites, the dots formed a wave-like layer in which the perovskite crystals in the cells are surrounded by the carbon dots. It serves as a protective layer, essentially a kind of armor, for the active portions of the material.

The result was solar cells with a higher power conversion efficiency and greater stability. The researchers did not explain why they chose human hair as the source of carbon, but it does make for an interesting sidelight to the promising research.

Perovskite solar cells could be very important for spacecraft applications where reducing weight is paramount. But in order to be able to use them for this purpose, perovskite solar cells will need to be able to cope with the extreme radiation and temperature variations in space.

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Carbon dots from human hair boost solar cells

Photo, posted October 3, 2009, courtesy of Arktoi via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Red Hot Chili Solar Panels | Earth Wise

April 9, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The majority of solar panels in use today are made from either single-crystal or polycrystalline silicon, the same stuff used to make the ubiquitous chips in computers, cell phones, and countless other devices. In addition, a growing fraction of solar panels utilize thin-film technology, which offers cost and flexibility advantages.

Monocrystal silicon still provides the highest efficiency and longest lifespan in commercially available panels, but the lower costs and some other features of thin-film solar panels are growing that market over time.

More recently, perovskite solar cell technology has been a source of great interest in the research community. Perovskites are a class of minerals with a specific crystalline structure that already have uses in various applications. As a solar cell material, perovskites offer the potential for converting more sunlight to electricity, being manufactured far more cheaply using no exotic or expensive materials, being more defect-tolerant, as well as a having number of other advantages. They also have the potential for having very high efficiency.

Recently, a group of researchers in China and Sweden published results of studies demonstrating that the addition of a novel ingredient has increased the efficiency of perovskite solar cells to nearly 22%, which is better than most commercial silicon solar cells. The ingredient is capsaicin, the chemical that gives chili peppers their spicy sting. Adding capsaicin expands the grains that make up the active material of the solar cell, allowing the more effective transport of electricity.

Why did the researchers think of adding the active ingredient of hot peppers to a solar cell in the first place? So far, they aren’t saying.

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Solar panels capture more sunlight with capsaicin – the chemical that makes chili peppers spicy

Photo, posted August 16, 2019, courtesy of Pedro via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Another Way To Make Solar Cells

March 21, 2019 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Millions of rooftops now contain solar panels and the majority of the solar cells that make up those panels today are made from silicon. Silicon solar cells require expensive, multi-step processing conducted at very high temperatures in special clean room facilities. Despite these complications, the price of solar panels has continued to drop dramatically over the years.

But even as the price of solar cells gets lower and lower, there are still widespread efforts to find even better ways to make them. One of those ways is with perovskite solar cells. Perovskites are materials with a characteristic crystal structure and are quite common in nature. Perovskites can be formed with a wide range of elements and can exhibit a variety of properties.

They were first used to make solar cells about 10 years ago and those first cells were unimpressive in most respects. However, there has been steady progress since that time. The potential advantages of perovskite solar cells are that they can be made from low-cost materials and can be manufactured using liquid chemistry, a far cheaper process than what is used to make silicon cells.

Researchers at MIT and several other institutions have recently published the results of research on how to tailor the composition of perovskite solar cells to optimize their properties. What used to be a trial-and-error process can now become much more engineered and should lead to perovskite solar cells with performance that could exceed that of silicon cells.

Silicon solar panels are a huge, worldwide industry and displacing them in favor of an alternative technology is a tall order. But if perovskite cells can be optimized for large-scale manufacturability, efficiency and durability, they could definitely give silicon a run for its money.

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Unleashing perovskites’ potential for solar cells

Photo courtesy of Ken Richardson/MIT.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Spray-On Solar Cells

May 15, 2017 By EarthWise

One of the most exciting possibilities for future solar energy technology is that of solar cells that can be sprayed or printed on to surfaces like the windows of skyscrapers, the roofs of sports utility vehicles, or the walls of houses. And the expectation is that such technology would be far cheaper than today’s silicon-based solar panels.

[Read more…] about Spray-On Solar Cells