A single molecule boosts perovskite solar cell efficiency and lifespan

A new study in Science reveals that the incorporation of an artificial molecule into the design enhances the power effectivity and longevity of perovskite photo voltaic cells. The advantages of the molecule, often known as CPMAC, had been discovered by means of a world collaboration that included King Abdullah College of Science and Expertise (KAUST).

CPMAC is an abbreviation for an ionic salt synthesized from buckminsterfullerene, a black stable product of carbon atoms often known as C₆₀. Perovskite solar cells are usually made with C₆₀, which has contributed to document power effectivity. Whereas most popular, C₆₀ additionally limits the efficiency and stability of the photo voltaic cells, main scientists to discover different supplies.

“For over a decade, C₆₀ has been an integral component in the development of perovskite solar cells. However, weak interactions at the perovskite/C₆₀ interface lead to mechanical degradation that compromises long-term solar cell stability. To address this limitation, we designed a C₆₀-derived ionic salt, CPMAC, to significantly enhance the stability of the perovskite solar cells,” defined Professor Osman Bakr, Govt College of the KAUST Middle of Excellence for Renewable Vitality and Sustainable Applied sciences (CREST), who led the KAUST contributions to the analysis.

The chemistry of CPMAC improved the digital properties of the photo voltaic cells. Cells with CPMAC had an influence conversion effectivity—a regular metric used to guage the power effectivity of photo voltaic cells—that was 0.6% increased than photo voltaic cells constructed with C₆₀.

If the common energy plant produces 1 gigaWatt of energy, then lower than a 1% distinction would nonetheless be sufficient to energy 5,000 further properties.

“When we deal with the scale of a typical power station, the additional electricity generated even from a fraction of a percentage point is quite significant,” stated Hongwei Zhu, a analysis scientist at KAUST who additionally contributed to the examine.

Moreover, CPMAC photo voltaic cells confirmed a drop of their power conversion efficiency that was one third that of C₆₀ photo voltaic cells when the 2 varieties had been uncovered to scorching temperatures at completely different humidities for over 2,000 hours, a benchmark for testing the soundness of photo voltaic cells.

The variations between the 2 varieties grew to become extra obvious upon assembling them into modules consisting of 4 photo voltaic cells, a simplified mannequin of a photo voltaic panel, which typically consists of someplace between 50 to 100 cells.

These advantages had been attributed to CPMAC lowering defects in a key part of the photo voltaic cell often known as the electron switch layer by creating ionic bonds with the perovskite relatively than the weaker van der Waals bonds made with C₆₀.