Research into how Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Perovskites (HOIPs) turn sunlight into energy could open door to far higher efficiency solar panels
Researchers investigating a new class of solar cell ingredients have shown how efficiency could be boosted far higher than had previously been thought possible.
The materials, known as Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Perovskites (HOIPs), have been touted as a base for more efficient solar calls, but conversion efficiency to date with the technology has only reached around 22 per cent, still short of the 25 per cent efficiency delivered by silicon solar cells.
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However, in a new paper published this week researchers from Columbia University in the US showed how HOIPs have a far lower rate of energy loss than silicon cells, opening up the door for their efficiency to be pushed higher.
"Among the materials being explored for next generation solar cells, HOIPs have emerged a superstar," said Xiaoyang Zhu, professor of chemistry at Columbia University, in a statement. "Until now no one has been able to explain why they work so well, and how much better we might make them. We now know it's possible to make HOIP-based solar cells even more efficient than anyone thought possible."
While the most common type of solar PV cells are made from thin layers of silicon, research published by Japanese scientists in 2009 showed HOIPs could be a promising new material for solar cells.
The paper showed that - unlike solar cells made from silicon - HOIPs cells could harvest energy from sunlight even when the crystals had a significant number of defects, opening up the door for producing them more easily at large scale and low cost.
Since then, scientists have increased the efficiency with which HOIPs can convert solar energy into electricity from four per cent to 22 per cent, meaning they are now nearing the 25 per cent which remains the maximum efficiency of silicon cells even after decades of research.
The new research now shows the rate of energy loss is slowed down by over three orders of magniture in HOIPs, making it possible that excess electronic energy could be harvested to further boost the efficiency of the cells.
"We're talking about potentially doubling the efficiency of solar cells," says Prakriti P. Joshi, doctorate student in Zhu's lab and co-author on the paper. "That's really exciting because it opens up a big, big field in engineering."
However, many challenges still remain for HOIPs - not least the fact that they contain lead and are water soluble, meaning research needs to be done to discover how they can be prevented from leaching into the environment.
"Now we can go back and design materials which are environmentally benign and really solve this problem everybody is worried about," said Zhu. "This principle will allow people to start to design new materials for solar energy."
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