Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's Breakthrough in Perovskite Solar Cells

TapTechNews August 11th news, the research team of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) College of Engineering initially created a chiral configuration interface microstructure for perovskite solar cells, which significantly improved the reliability and photoelectric conversion efficiency of the cells. The relevant research results were published in Science.

Perovskite solar cells are a new type of thin-film solar cell using perovskite-structured compounds as light-absorbing materials. This thin-film solar cell has a low production cost and a simple manufacturing process. Different from traditional silicon solar cells, perovskite solar cells do not require expensive high-temperature and high-vacuum manufacturing processes and can be fabricated by a high-throughput solution printing process.

But to achieve the final commercialization of perovskite cells, there are still some technical obstacles, among which the durability problem when operating for a long time in outdoor environment scenarios is particularly obvious. The research team drew inspiration from the mechanical strength of natural chiral materials and uniquely constructed a chiral-structured interface in perovskite solar cells, greatly enhancing the device durability.

The research team inserted a chiral-structured intermediate layer based on R-/S-methylbenzylammonium between the perovskite light-absorbing layer and the electron transport layer, constructing a robust and elastic heterointerface. The encapsulated solar cell, after 200 cycles between -40°C and 85°C, a total of 1200 hours of testing under the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61215 solar cell standard, still retains 92% of the initial conversion efficiency.

TapTechNews attached the paper link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ado5172