Project R-7209

Pb-free Perovskite photovoltaics material screening for enhanced stability (Research)

Perovskite solar cells are currently amongst the hottest prospects in clean energy research. Combining low cost materials, the ability of simple, low temperature, non-vacuum, processing and sky rocketing efficiency improvements reported with small learning curves have put these materials in the spotlights. The past few years have seen an unprecedentedly rapid emergence of this new class of solar cells, based on mixed organic-inorganic halide perovskites. While the first efficient solid-state perovskite cells were reported only in mid-2012, energy conversion efficiencies beyond 20 % were recently reported. Despite the great expectations and a bright outlook, the research community is faced with a number of stumbling blocks on the road to general acceptation and implementation of this emerging technology. Three of the most important and urgent ones are stability, humidity sensitivity and lead content. In order to be able to gain its rightful place amongst commercially viable technologies, solar cells based on perovskite materials need to be brought to a stability level well beyond the maximum reported live times. While the choice of deposition technique will undoubtedly have an effect on conversion efficiency, it is observed that only a minority of research groups focus on the perovskite material composition itself to further improve the basic properties of the solar cells and that the majority of researchers focus on methylamine-lead-iodide perovskite as core material. In this project the focus will be on the core material, focusing especially to the stability and/or the environmentally benign nature of the end application, and further facilitating the manufacturing technique towards low cost and ambient conditions whenever possible.

01 July 2016 - 30 June 2018