EPFL scientists have recently published the results of a low-cost, ultra-stable perovskite solar cell that has operated for more than a year without loss in performance (11.2%). The work is published in Nature Communications.
According to the announcement the research group of Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin at EPFL in collaboration with Michael Grätzel and Solaronix company has engineered what is known as 2D/3D hybrid perovskite solar cell. This combines the enhanced stability of 2D perovskites with 3D forms, which efficiently absorb light across the entire visible spectrum and transport electrical charges.
In this way, the scientists were able to fabricate of efficient and ultra-stable solar cells, which is a crucial step for "upscaling" to a commercial level. The 2D/3D perovskite yields efficiencies of 12.9% (carbon-based architecture), and 14.6% (standard mesoporous solar cells).
The scientists built 10 cm x 10 cm solar panels using a fully printable industrial-scale process. The resulting solar cells have now delivered a constant 11.2% efficiency for more than 10,000 hours, while showing zero loss in performance as measured under standard conditions.
The researchers said that this breakthrough resolves the problem of perovskite solar-cell stability, and can viably move the technology into the commercial sphere.
This work was funded by the Marie Curie Institute, the Horizon 2020 program, the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) and Solaronix.
Open access article
One-Year stable perovskite solar cells by 2D/3D interface engineering
G. Grancini | C. Roldán-Carmona | I. Zimmermann | E. Mosconi | X. Lee | D. Martineau | S. Narbey | F. Oswald | F. De Angelis | M. Graetzel | Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin
Nature Communications 8 | Article number: 15684 (2017) | doi:10.1038/ncomms15684
Received: 19 August 2016 | Accepted: 20 April 2017 | Published online: 01 June 2017
Abstract
Despite the impressive photovoltaic performances with power conversion efficiency beyond 22%, perovskite solar cells are poorly stable under operation, failing by far the market requirements. Various technological approaches have been proposed to overcome the instability problem, which, while delivering appreciable incremental improvements, are still far from a market-proof solution. Here we show one-year stable perovskite devices by engineering an ultra-stable 2D/3D (HOOC(CH2)4NH3)2PbI4/CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite junction. The 2D/3D forms an exceptional gradually-organized multi-dimensional interface that yields up to 12.9% efficiency in a carbon-based architecture, and 14.6% in standard mesoporous solar cells. To demonstrate the up-scale potential of our technology, we fabricate 10 × 10 cm2 solar modules by a fully printable industrial-scale process, delivering 11.2% efficiency stable for >10,000 h with zero loss in performances measured under controlled standard conditions. This innovative stable and low-cost architecture will enable the timely commercialization of perovskite solar cells.