SOLAR CELLS OF THE FUTURE: INEXPENSIVE, EFFICIENT PEROVSKITES GAIN MOMENTUM
By: Julianne Beck
A new era of growth in the field of perovskite solar cells began this month, with the publication of a paper by Mercouri Kanatzidis, Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
“Long-term stability is an ongoing concern of perovskite solar cells. A special form of these perovskites is the two-dimensional (2D) class with several members each, with different layer thickness,” explained Kanatzidis. “These 2D perovskites are more stable that the three-dimensional (3D) perovskites and promise to give more stable solar cells.”
The paper documents the maximum level of perovskite layer thickness that can be synthesized, which will help improve the design of perovskite solar cells in order to maximize stability and efficiency. The finding resolves years of debate among researchers about the maximum possible thickness, and allows the zealous perovskite industry to advance the development of the technology that promises lower cost energy at a higher level of efficiency than materials on the market today.