Study shows self-assembled monolayers approach can be applied to regular structure perovskite solar cells

Researchers from Kaunas College of Know-how (KTU), Lithuania, who contributed to the event of record-breaking photo voltaic cells just a few years in the past have expanded their invention. The self-assembled monolayers can now be utilized not solely in inverted but additionally in common construction perovskite photo voltaic cells.

Their article, “Nonfullerene Self-Assembled Monolayers As Electron-Selective Contacts for n-i-p Perovskite Solar Cells,” is revealed in ACS Power Letters.

Self-assembling molecules prepare themselves right into a single-molecule-thick layer and on this case, they act as an electron-transporting layer in photo voltaic cells.

“The molecules that make up these monolayers, like a clever glue, coat the surface of the constructed devices with a thin one molecule thick layer. And this is not random, they don’t stick wherever they go, but attach themselves by chemical bonds only where they are in contact with conductive metal oxide,” explains Tadas Malinauskas, Professor at KTU’s College of Chemical Know-how and one of many inventors of the brand new expertise.

Based on Malinauskas, the event of such a layer is a comparatively easy and material-efficient course of that requires a glass substrate with an electrically conductive metallic oxide layer to be immersed in or sprayed with a extremely diluted answer of the compound.

On this method, the self-assembling molecules are solely hooked up to the floor of the metallic oxide, and people that don’t stick are washed away. This manner a skinny layer is created solely the place it’s wanted.

A vital step within the improvement of the subsequent era photo voltaic cells

A group of KTU researchers has been synthesizing and learning charge-transporting natural supplies for a number of years. Earlier experiments have targeted extra on molecules used for optimistic cost switch within the perovskite solar cells.

“We can already say with confidence that these molecules have given a major boost to the development of the next generation solar cells. So, our next step is quite logical: to develop analogous molecules that can carry negative chargesand to apply these materials in perovskite solar cells,” says Vytautas Getautis, professor on the KTU College of Chemical Know-how and Head of the analysis group answerable for invention.

Though it’s a very skinny layer, the function it performs in photo voltaic cells is extraordinarily essential. Malinauskas says that one of the best analogy for its perform is the subway. “This layer, like an automatic gate on the subway, allows only one type of charge to pass through and continue its journey towards the electrode,” he says.

On this method, self-assembled molecules improve the effectivity of photo voltaic cells.

Perovskite photo voltaic cell buildings differ within the sequence of layers. Within the common construction, a adverse cost transporting layer is shaped on a clear substrate, adopted by light-absorbing and optimistic cost transporting layers. In photo voltaic cells with an inverted construction, the optimistic and adverse cost transport layers are swapped.

Inventor and KTU Ph.D. scholar Lauryna Monika Svirskaitė says that the primary distinction between the 2 buildings is the areas of their software.

“The regular structure is more widely used to study low-cost, easier-manufactured but less efficient solar cells. The inverted architecture allows them to be used in the construction of much more efficient combined devices, also known as tandem devices,” says Svirskaitė.

In the mean time, as each buildings are being intensively researched, the KTU scientists imagine that the brand new invention is simply as important and promising because the final one.

The brand new invention is the results of a collaboration with scientists from King Abdullah College of Science and Know-how (KAUST).

“We, KTU chemists, were responsible for the development, improvement, and optimization of the materials and coating technology, while our colleagues from Saudi Arabia investigated the performance of it in solar cells,” says Malinauskas.

Greta Žėkienė, Head of Mental Property Administration at KTU’s Nationwide Innovation and Entrepreneurship Heart (NIEC), says that the demand for this invention is surprisingly excessive. On this case, curiosity within the invention’s industrial use preceded the submitting of the patent software.

Based on Žėkienė, the seek for companions often begins after a patent software is filed, and more often than not an invention receives consideration solely after the publication of a scientific article is launched.

“A Japanese company, with whom we already have several licenses for inventions in this field, immediately expressed the interest to have the innovation in their product portfolio. They were waiting for us to prepare a patent application. The process of negotiating a license agreement started right away,” says Žėkienė.

She emphasizes that it isn’t vital to acquire a patent for the commercialization of an invention. Whereas it depends upon the person case, commercialization of an invention can happen at any time if a enterprise declares its intention to license or take over all of the property rights.

The Head of Mental Property Administration at KTU says that innovations within the discipline of photo voltaic cells made by the Synthesis of Natural Semiconductors analysis group are the strongest in KTU’s patent portfolio and obtain quite a lot of curiosity from companies on this discipline. “We feel proud and acknowledged when companies want to start using the inventions as soon as possible,” provides Žėkienė.