In the last two centuries, with the sharp increase in pollution and the onset of significant climate change, researchers are looking for alternative ways to generate energy. To combat the problem EU has committed to a goal that 25% of the electricity consumed should come from renewable sources by year 2030. Currently silicon solar cells are widely used in practice, but this technology has such problems as use of ultra-pure silicon and highly complex production techniques that increases the cost of solar cells; therefore, researchers are looking for alternative materials that could be used to produce solar cells. The most promising alternative is the perovskite solar cells (PSC). The energy conversion efficiency over the past few years has jumped from 4% to over 22%, while the tandem perovskite / silicon solar cell yields as much as 27%. These devices are also characterized by simplicity of design and low cost. Although perovskite solar cells have achieved impressive performance over the last five years, this is not enough to commercialize them. One of the main problems – positive charge transport. Currently used organic semiconductors are expensive and require a complex multi-component chemical doping system, which has negative effect on solar cell stability. Currently an intensive investigation of new compounds that can function effectively in PSC without chemical doping is underway. One of the methods to ensure good mobility and conductivity of the carriers is the self-assembly of molecules into orderly structures. This type of molecule would solve two problems at once: reduce the complexity of the production and improve PSC stability while maintaining sufficient performance
Project funding:
Project is funded by EU Structural Funds according to the 2014–2020 Operational Programme for the European Union Funds’ Investments priority “Development of scientific competence of researchers, other researchers, students through practical scientific activities” under Measure No. 09.3.3-LMT-K-712.
Project results:
The expected result of the project – new organic semiconductors that possess optical, thermal and electrochemical properties appropriate for construction of perovskite solar cells
Period of project implementation: 2018-10-01 - 2019-04-30
Project coordinator: Kaunas University of Technology
