perovskite tagged posts

This first version of a new layered perovskite solar cell already achieves an efficiency of more than 20 percent, rivaling many commercial solar cells. Flexible and easy to make, it can produce more than half a volt of electricity. Credit: Onur Ergen, UC Berkeley

Solar cells made from an inexpensive and increasingly popular material called perovskite can more efficiently turn sunlight into electricity using a new technique to sandwich 2 types of perovskite into a single photovoltaic cell. Perovskite solar cells are made of a mix of organic molecules and inorganic elements that together capture light and convert it into electricity, just like today’s more common silicon-based solar cells...

Mr. Zafer Hawash setting up the hanging mercury drop electrode system for conductivity measurement. Credit: Image courtesy of Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University – OIST

Researchers have clarified the relationship between air exposure and enhanced electric proprieties in perovskite solar cells. Perovskite solar cells are the rising star in the photovoltaic landscape. Since their invention, <10 years ago, their efficiency has doubled twice and it is now over 22% – an astonishing result in the renewable energy sector. Taking the name ‘perovskite’ from the light-harvesting layer that characterizes them, these solar cells are lighter, cheaper, and more flexible than the traditional crystalline silicon-based cells.

Perovskite solar cells are usually exposed to ambient...

Stanford engineers created arrays of silicon nanocones to trap sunlight and improve the performance of solar cells made of bismuth vanadate (1μm=1,000 nanometers). Credit: Wei Chen and Yongcai Qiu, Stanford

A Stanford University lab has developed new technologies to tackle 2 of the world’s large energy challenges: clean fuel for transportation and grid-scale energy storage. Although H-cars are emission-free, making hydrogen fuel, however, is not emission free: today, making most H fuel involves natural gas in a process releasing CO2 into the atmosphere.

To address the problem, Cui and his colleagues have focused on photovoltaic water splitting which consists of a solar-powered electrode immersed in water...

The perovskite film (black, 200-300 nm) is covered by Spiro.OMeTAD, Graphene with gold contact at one edge, a glass substrate and an amorphous/crystalline silicon solar cell. Credit: F. Lang / HZB

Measurements show the graphene layer is an ideal front contact in several respects. Silicon absorbers primarily convert the red portion of the solar spectrum very effectively into electrical energy, whereas the blue portions are partially lost as heat. To reduce this loss, the silicon cell can be combined with an additional solar cell that primarily converts the blue portions.

Teams at HZB have already acquired extensive experience with these kinds of tandem cells. A particularly effective complement to conventional silicon is the hybrid material called perovskite. It has a band gap of 1...