With the help of structural insights from the Advanced Light Source (ALS), researchers optimized the fit between organic and inorganic ions in a perovskite solar-cell material.
The work increased the material’s power-conversion efficiency and stability and opens up a new avenue for improving the current-carrier dynamics of a promising class of materials.
A photovoltaic rising star
To address the effects of global climate change, it’s essential that we capitalize on energy from the sun. However, although solar energy is freely available, it needs to be converted into usable electricity in a way that’s efficient, cost-effective, and commercially scalable.
Perovskites are high-performance inorganic semiconductors recognized as some of the most promising photovoltaic materials of the future. Perovskite films—thin, lightweight, and flexible—can be produced using low-cost solution-processing techniques, and their power-conversion efficiencies (PCEs) have rapidly risen to the brink of 30% in just 15 years, surpassing conventional silicon panels.
A structure with room to tinker
The most intriguing perovskite materials today are organic–inorganic hybrids. They have the general formula ABX3, in which the inorganic B and X ions form a framework of octahedral cages, and the organic A ions are located in the spaces between the cages.
Previously, it was thought that perovskite electronic performance mainly depended on the B and X electronic orbitals, and that A merely served a structural function. In this work, researchers showed that A-site organic ions with specially designed characteristics can increase charge-carrier mobility and power conversion efficiency while also improving device stability.
Read more on the ALS website
Image: Left: The basic structure of perovskite, a promising solar-cell material, has three types of sites, A (blue), B (gray), and X (purple). Right: By attaching organic tails to the interstitial “A” sites (and testing different linker lengths), researchers improved the material’s photovoltaic response.