(ORDO NEWS) — Cheaper to manufacture and better at absorbing higher energy forms of light, perovskite materials could replace silicon in solar panel technology. Unfortunately, scientists are still figuring out how to make these perovskites more stable and durable.
In a new study, scientists have been able to significantly improve the performance of a specific type of this material, known as lead halide perovskite.
By combining perovskite with a metal rather than glass substrate, the light conversion efficiency was increased by 250 percent.
“No one else has come up with such an observation in perovskites,” says Chunlei Guo, a professor of optics. at the University of Rochester in New York.
“Suddenly, we can put a metal platform under the perovskite, completely changing how electrons interact inside the perovskite. So we use a physical method to design this interaction.”
While there is still a lot of work to be done to bring this technology from the lab to the solar panel, this is another sign that these perovskite crystal structures may soon become popular materials when it comes to increasing solar energy production.
Solar panels work by using photons from sunlight to excite electrons, leaving their place next to an atom to produce electricity.
However, when the electrons and the gaps they left recombine, energy that could have been used as electricity is instead wasted as heat.
The researchers found that the addition of a metal substrate can reduce this recombination and improve efficiency.
The group also showed that alternating layers of metal and a dielectric (insulating) material as a substrate for light-absorbing perovskite can improve performance in the same way.
The metal substrate acts as a mirror image, flipping the arrangement of the electrons and their holes generated by the photons.
Thanks to the “many amazing physical phenomena” efficiency increases. This is an example of how solar cell technology upgrades do not have to include the absorbing material itself.
“A piece of metal can do as much work as complex chemistry in a wet lab,” says Guo.
Although the performance of perovskites continues to improve, it is the durability of these materials that is the main stumbling block to their widespread adoption. The best way forward might be to use it in tandem with silicon inside solar panels.
The researchers behind the study believe that even more improvement can be achieved by using this combination of metals with perovskites. method, which gives us better control over solar panels and how they convert light into electricity.
Part of the appeal of perovskites is that there are many metal and halide variants that can contribute to their production, as well as the effectiveness of the magnification technique described here should be applied universally.
This may be especially important as researchers look for alternatives that eliminate the use of lead halides, which are currently well ahead of other composite materials but have a known environmental impact.
“As new perovskites emerge, we can then use our physics-based method to further improve their performance,” says Guo.
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