Perovskite solar cells have emerged as a promising alternative to conventional, silicon solar cells, boasting a number of advantages. But processing the material has been a complicated affair. Now, researchers at UC Santa Barbara have developed a method to make high-quality perovskite films at room temperature. The team's innovation not only simplified the production process but also increased the material's efficiency from under 20% to 24.4%.
By fine tuning the material's chemical composition, the authors developed a perovskite ink that created high-quality films much more effectively."Our method follows the same procedures as the conventional one, except for omitting the two most time-consuming steps: thermal annealing and post-treatment," said co-lead author Ahra Yi, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Santa Barbara.
The new procedure is also extremely gentle. To demonstrate this, the team prepared a perovskite layer on fresh leaves, a feat that was impossible with the previous, high-temperature process."We thought this choice would be both eye-catching and symbolic, since solar cells mimic the photosynthetic process in leaves," said Yi.
While solar cells are a great alternative to fossil fuels, the environmental impact of the processes involved in manufacturing solar cells has been a concern. Solar panel fabrication often involves ...
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