Efficiency - Page 2

Researchers from Monash University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Tunghai University, the University of Oxford, National Central University, and the City University of Hong Kong have developed a strategy to enhance the stability and performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) through a mechanism described as 'self-healing'.

The team reported a living passivation strategy using a hindered urea/thiocarbamate bond Lewis acid-base material (HUBLA), where dynamic covalent bonds with water and heat-activated characteristics can dynamically heal the perovskite to ensure device performance and stability. 

Researchers from China's Nankai University and Linköping University in Sweden have attempted to design a perovskite solar cell with the help of ChatGPT. The experiment helped the team to identify a series of materials for the cell composition and the results were cells with a higher power conversion efficiency compared to that of reference cells built without the material proposed by ChatGPT.

The scientists explored ChatGPT's ability to generate hypotheses for material science and identify untested molecules capable of reducing surface recombination and thereby boosting the efficiency of perovskite solar cells.

LONGi Green Energy Technology has announced a new world record efficiency of 30.1% for a commercial M6 size wafer-level silicon-perovskite tandem solar cell at the 2024 Intersolar Europe event in Germany. This new record comes less than a week after LONGi announced a new world record of 34.6% tandem solar cell efficiency at the 2024 SNEC EXPO in Shanghai, and it also breaks the previous world record of 28.6% wafer-level tandem solar cell efficiency on M4 commercial size wafers in May 2023.

The commercial M6 size wafer-level silicon-perovskite tandem solar cell was independently certified by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy (Fraunhofer ISE) in Germany.

Oxford PV has announced a record-setting 26.9% efficiency for its double-glass, 60-cell “residential sized” perovskite tandem module at the Intersolar Europe 2024 event. The module reportedly has a surface area of a little over 1.6 m square meters (1m x 1.7m) and weighs a little under 25 kg, “the ideal size for residential applications,” according to Oxford PV.

Oxford PV produces the proprietary high efficiency tandem solar cells at its manufacturing facility in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany, and uses both in-house and contract services for the module assembly.

Reports suggest that LONGi has announced that it has reached 34.6% efficiency for a perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell, at the SNEC tradeshow in Shanghai, China.

The European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) reportedly certified the results, which represent a world record for this cell type. The previous record was held by LONGi itself, which achieved an efficiency of 33.9% in November 2023.

Researchers in China, led by Nanjing University, have designed a tandem perovskite-silicon solar cell with a top perovskite device based on an absorber treated with n-butanol (nBA), which reportedly reduces the detrimental effects of moisture in manufacturing processes carried out in air environment. The resulting PV device is said to have improved charge collection.

The nBA used by the team is a clear, colorless alcohol used as a cleaning agent in many industries, including electronics manufacturing. The team explained that it offers low polarity and saturation vapor pressure and ensures that the typical detrimental effects of moisture in perovskite cell fabrication in an ambient environment can be significantly reduced.

Researchers from Australia's Griffith University and Queensland University of Technology have reported the fabrication of planar carbon-based perovskite solar cells (c-PSCs) with high efficiency and excellent stability, by employing electrochemically produced large-area phosphorene flakes as a hole-transporting layer (HTL). 

Carbon-based perovskite solar cells have attracted increasing attention due to their many advantages, including: ease of fabrication, the potential of assembling flexible devices, low manufacturing costs and more. However, c-PSCs suffer from limited hole extraction and high charge carrier recombination due to inadequate interface contact between the carbon electrode and perovskite film.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Colorado School of Mines, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), University of Toledo and University of California San Diego have pointed out that the light-emitting diodes (LEDs) used in indoor testing of perovskite solar cells do not expose them to the levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation that they would encounter in actual outdoor use. 

The scientists reported degradation mechanisms of p-i-n–structured perovskite solar cells under unfiltered sunlight and with LEDs. Weak chemical bonding between perovskites and polymer hole-transporting materials (HTMs) and transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) reportedly dominate the accelerated A-site cation migration, rather than direct degradation of HTMs.

Researchers from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering at the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently reported a novel perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell based on flexible ultrathin silicon, with a thickness of about 30 µm.

Despite major progress in the efficiency of rigid perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells, flexible perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells have remained elusive. The team explains that this is due to the challenge of enhancing light absorption in ultrathin silicon bottom cells while maintaining their mechanical flexibility.

Researchers at China's Hangzhou Dianzi University have modified the absorber of a conventional perovskite solar cell with potassium trifluoromethanesulfonate (KTFS) and found that the additive improved the device's performance and stability. The cell’s perovskite film reportedly showed less lead defects and lower J-V hysteresis.

“The KTFS molecule is a typical kind of potassium salt including the cationic potassium (K⁺) and anionic trifluoromethanesulfonate (SO3CF3−), indicating a bifunctional interaction between KTFS and perovskite,” the team explained. “The sulfonyl group can passivate the undercoordinated lead of the deep-level defect and thus inhibit the non-radiative recombination.”