Design of stable solar cells with greater than 15% efficiency based on 2D perovskites

Abstract

Project Abstract The goal of the proposed research is to develop, high efficiency, highly stable perovskite solar cells with high environmental and photo-stability using a new family of materials known as Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) perovskites. 2D perovskites are now emerging as an exciting new direction in this field. We will develop technologically viable 2D perovskite materials as solar cell absorbers. We will apply two concomitant approaches of tailored synthesis and device interface engineering to achieve a power conversion efficiency >15% with stability and ruggedness required for on-field applications. We propose an alternative approach that involves a new type of perovskite which has a different, two-dimensional (2D) network. By moving away from the 3D perovskite material, we deal with an inorganic framework with better intrinsic stability and more tunable parameters. The 2D perovskites have unique tunable parameters that are not available in the 3D systems: a) the thickness of the perovskite can be controlled to give a desired band gap; b) the spacing between the perovskite layers can be adjusted to modify the physical properties of the layers by dialing the length of the organic-ammonium cations; c) the nature of the organic-ammonium cations can be tuned to control the interaction between the inorganic perovskite slabs and the organic cations to tune the photo-physical properties of the material. Finally, various strategies aimed at fabricating robust solar cells for the most stable of these materials with >15% efficiencies are proposed.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Mar 10, 2017
Source ID
N000141712231

Entities

People

  • Mercouri Kanatzidis

Organizations

  • Northwestern University
  • Office of Naval Research
  • United States Navy

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Solar Photovoltaics and Thermoelectric Devices.

Technology Areas

  • Space