Scientists found using a chromium seed layer allowed them to grow ultrathin gold film that serves as a transparent electrode with good conductivity for perovskite solar cells.
IMAGE: PENN STATE
Developing new ultrathin metal electrodes has allowed researchers to create semitransparent perovskite solar cells that are highly efficient and can be coupled with traditional silicon cells to greatly boost the performance of both devices, said an international team of scientists. The research represents a step toward developing completely transparent solar cells.
“Transparent solar cells could someday find a place on windows in homes and office buildings, generating electricity from sunlight that would otherwise be wasted,” said Kai Wang, assistant research professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State and co-author on the study. “This is a big step — we finally succeeded in making efficient, semitransparent solar cells.”
Traditional solar cells are made from silicon, but scientists believe they are approaching the limits of the technology in the march to create ever more efficient solar cells. Perovskite cells offer a promising alternative and stacking them on top of the traditional cells can create more efficient tandem devices, the scientists said.
“We’ve shown we can make electrodes from a very thin, almost few atomic layers of gold,” said Shashank Priya, associate vice president for research and professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State. “The thin gold layer has high electrical conductivity and at the same time it doesn’t interfere with the cell’s ability to absorb sunlight.”
The perovskite solar cell that the team developed achieved 19.8% efficiency, a record for a semitransparent cell. And when combined with a traditional silicon solar cell, the tandem device achieved 28.3% efficiency, up from 23.3% from the silicon cell alone. The scientists reported their findings in the journal Nano Energy.
“A 5% improvement in efficiency is giant,” Priya said. “This basically means you are converting about 50 watts more sunlight for every square meter of solar cell material. Solar farms can consist of thousands of modules, so that adds up to a lot of electricity, and that’s a big breakthrough.”
In previous research, ultrathin gold film showed promise as a transparent electrode in perovskite solar cells, but issues in creating a uniform layer resulted in poor conductivity, the scientists said.
The team found that chromium used as a seed layer allowed the gold to form on top in a continuous ultrathin layer with good conductive properties.
“Normally, if you grow a thin layer of something like gold, the nanoparticles will couple together and gather like small islands,” said Dong Yang, assistant research professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State. “Chromium has a large surface energy that provides a good place for the gold to grow on top of, and it actually allows the gold to form a continuous thin film.”
Perovskite solar cells are composed of five layers and other materials tested as transparent electrodes damaged or degraded layers of the cells. The scientists said solar cells made with the gold electrodes are stable and maintain high efficiencies over time in laboratory tests.
“This breakthrough in the design of tandem cell architecture based on a transparent electrode offers an efficient route toward the transition to perovskite and tandem solar cells,” said Yang.
Original Article: Scientists develop transparent electrode that boosts solar cell efficiency
More from: Pennsylvania State University | Shaanxi Normal University | Chinese Academy of Sciences | Hubei University
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Solar cell efficiency
- Proof of concept study shows path to easier recycling of solar modules
The use of femtosecond lasers to form glass-to-glass welds for solar modules would make the panels easier to recycle, according to a proof-of-concept study conducted by researchers at the U.S.
- Researchers outline path forward for tandem solar cells
As the old saying goes, two heads are better than one. The same is true when it comes to solar cells working in tandem. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy ...
- A look at freshwater usage in solar manufacturing
With solar power becoming more economical, quick to deploy and zero-emissions, it’s quickly emerged as a winner in the energy transition. As a result, ...
- Scientists develop material with potential to revolutionize solar panel efficency: 'Significant leap forward'
Researchers at Lehigh University have developed a solar panel that is nearly twice as efficient as most existing solar panels, using something called "quantum material." External quantum efficiency ...
- Breakthrough in Organic Solar Cells Paves Way for Wearable Solar Power
An international group of scientists from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has developed a new method to improve the efficiency and stability of organic solar cells, paving the way for integrating ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Solar cell efficiency
[google_news title=”” keyword=”solar cell efficiency” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Transparent solar cells
- Proof of concept study shows path to easier recycling of solar modules
The use of femtosecond lasers to form glass-to-glass welds for solar modules would make the panels easier to recycle, according to a proof-of-concept study conducted by researchers at the U.S.
- UN-led panel aims to tackle abuses linked to mining for ‘critical minerals’
Panel of nearly 100 countries to draw up guidelines for industries that mine raw materials used in low-carbon technology ...
- Ultra-thin, flexible solar cells demonstrate their promise in a commercial quadcopter drone
Ultra-thin and flexible solar cells made from a new material called "perovskite" are proving to be an efficient and lightweight solution to facilitate self-sufficient energy generation over extended ...
- Photovoltaic Research Challenges: Overcoming Hurdles in Solar Technology
Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology has evolved in the past few years, particularly in solar panels and systems. However, researchers and institutions are actively working to overcome limitations to ...
- Perovskite cells power palm-sized drone
Researchers at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz and the Linz Institute for Organic Solar Cells in Austria have developed ultra-lightweight quasi-2D perovskite solar cells with a power output of ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Transparent solar cells
[google_news title=”” keyword=”transparent solar cells” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]