Spray-on technique points to low cost solar cells
1 min read
For the first time, researchers in the UK have been able to create perovskite solar cells using a spray-on technique. The breakthrough, they say, could help cut the cost of solar electricity.
"There is a lot of excitement around perovskite based photovoltaics," noted lead researcher Professor David Lidzey, of the University of Sheffield. "Remarkably, this class of material offers the potential to combine the high performance of mature solar cell technologies with the low embedded energy costs of production of organic photovoltaics."
While most solar cells are manufactured using energy intensive materials like silicon, perovskites require much less energy to make. By spray-painting the perovskite layer in air, the Sheffield team hopes the overall energy used to make a solar cell can be reduced further.
"The perovskite devices we have created still use similar structures to organic cells," Prof Lidzey said. "What we have done is replace the key light absorbing layer – the organic layer – with a spray-painted perovskite. Using a perovskite absorber instead of an organic absorber gives a significant boost in terms of efficiency."
The Sheffield team found that by spray-painting the perovskite they could make prototype solar cells with efficiency of up to 11%. Comparatively, the best certified efficiencies from organic solar cells are around 10%.
"This study advances existing work where the perovskite layer has been deposited from solution using laboratory scale techniques," Lidzey concluded. "It's a significant step towards efficient, low cost solar cell devices made using high volume roll to roll processing methods."
