Solar energy is the largest reliable, sustainable, and long-term supply of carbon-free energy source and is capable enough to fully cover the global electricity demand providing environmentally friendly and grid-free electricity. At present, the majority of solar modules are made of polycrystalline silicon, as it remains a key player in photovoltaic technology. However, silicon-based solar panels are not always economically viable due to the cost-intensive manufacturing process required to make the necessarily pure silicon material. Moreover, they are rigid, fragile and bulky limiting the mass production spread of lightweight integrated technologies. The potential advantages of emerging photovoltaic technology as perovskite-based solar cells (PSC) are abundant and cheap materials, which can be solution-processable reducing the fabrication costs of large-area printed applications. The era of PSCs has started in 2009 with 3.8% power conversion efficiency (PCE) and it has rapidly become the hottest topic in photovoltaics due to their unique optical and electrical properties. The fast development of device engineering and perovskite composition allowed to improve up-to-date solar cells with over 24% certified PCE. However, although PSCs have skyrocketed in PCE, there are still several challenges limiting the industrial realization. Long-term stability of the three-dimensional (3D) hybrid lead halide perovskite light absorber due to its decomposition when exposed to the ambient environment is the most important issue to be resolved. Therefore, stabilizing the crystal phase of 3D perovskites is critical for the commercialization of PSC technology. During this project, organic two-dimensional (2D) materials with tunable hydrophobic and dense packing properties will be designed and synthesized in order to obtain 2D/3D perovskite compositions, which prevent direct contact of adventitious water, reduce the density of the grain boundaries, and improve charge transport.
Project funding:
Projects funded by the Research Council of Lithuania (RCL), Projects carried out by researchers’ teams
Project results:
During the project period synthesis of organic cations was successfully performed and optimized using commercial substrates, which were converted to target ammonium halides required for perovskite film passivation to see their potential in constructing PSC devices. Active involvement of international partners led to design, construction, and testing of PSCs in which new organic cations were used as passivating agents to reach very high power conversion efficiency and stability values.
Period of project implementation: 2020-03-09 - 2022-12-31
Project coordinator: Kaunas University of Technology
Project partners: Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
