Scientists with the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the first time discovered how to make perovskite solar cells out of quantum dots and used the new material to convert sunlight to electricity with 10.77 percent efficiency.
In addition to developing quantum dot perovskite solar cells, the researchers discovered a method to stabilise a crystal structure in an all-inorganic perovskite material at room temperature that was previously only favorable at high temperatures. The crystal phase of the inorganic material is more stable in quantum dots.
Most research into perovskites has centred on a hybrid organic-inorganic structure. Since research into perovskites for photovoltaics began in 2009, their efficiency of converting sunlight into electricity has climbed steadily and now shows greater than 22% power conversion efficiency. However, the organic component hasn't been durable enough for the long-term use of perovskites as a solar cell.
NREL scientists turned to quantum dots-which are essentially nanocrystals-of cesium lead iodide (CsPbI3) to remove the unstable organic component and open the door to high-efficiency quantum dot optoelectronics that can be used in LED lights and photovoltaics.
The nanocrystals of CsPbI3 were synthesised through the addition of a Cs-oleate solution to a flask containing PbI2 precursor. The NREL researchers purified the nanocrystals using methyl acetate as an anti-solvent that removed excess unreacted precursors. This step turned out to be critical to increasing their stability.
Contrary to the bulk version of CsPbI3, the nanocrystals were found to be stable not only at temperatures exceeding 600 degrees Fahrenheit but also at room temperatures and at hundreds of degrees below zero. The bulk version of this material is unstable at room temperature, where photovoltaics normally operate and convert very quickly to an undesired crystal structure.
NREL scientists were able to transform the nanocrystals into a thin film by repeatedly dipping them into a methyl acetate solution, yielding a thickness between 100nm and 400nm. Used in a solar cell, the CsPbI3 nanocrystal film proved efficient at converting 10.77 percent of sunlight into electricity at an extraordinary high open circuit voltage. The efficiency is similar to record quantum dot solar cells of other materials and surpasses other reported all-inorganic perovskite solar cells.
The research was funded in part by the Energy Department's Office of Science and by the SunShot Initiative.
Quantum dot–induced phase stabilization of α-CsPbI3 perovskite for high-efficiency photovoltaics
Abhishek Swarnkar | Ashley R. Marshall | Erin M. Sanehira | Boris D. Chernomordik | David T. Moore | Jeffrey A. Christians | Tamoghna Chakrabarti | Joseph M. Luther
Science 07 Oct 2016: | Vol. 354, Issue 6308, pp. 92-95 | DOI: 10.1126/science.aag2700
Abstract
We show nanoscale phase stabilization of CsPbI3 quantum dots (QDs) to low temperatures that can be used as the active component of efficient optoelectronic devices. CsPbI3 is an all-inorganic analog to the hybrid organic cation halide perovskites, but the cubic phase of bulk CsPbI3 (α-CsPbI3)—the variant with desirable band gap—is only stable at high temperatures. We describe the formation of α-CsPbI3 QD films that are phase-stable for months in ambient air. The films exhibit long-range electronic transport and were used to fabricate colloidal perovskite QD photovoltaic cells with an open-circuit voltage of 1.23 volts and efficiency of 10.77%. These devices also function as light-emitting diodes with low turn-on voltage and tunable emission.