The rising star in photovoltaics-perovskite solar cells: The past, present and future

Abstract

Perovskite solar cell (PVSC), after its invention since 2009, has attracted tremendous attention from both academia and industry, because of its low cost, ease of manufacturing features and the sky-rocketing efficiencies being achieved within such a short period of time. Currently, the new efficiency record has reached 21.0%, comparable to that of the commercialized PV technologies developed for decades, such as multi-crystalline Si, CIGS and CdTe thin film solar cells. It is very possible that PVSCs would one day step over the threshold of marketization, share or even overturn the current PV market dominated by crystalline-Si solar cells. However, there are still several obstacles to be overcome on the road towards PVSC industrialization. This paper has reviewed the brief developing history and the current research status of PVSCs, and explained: Why PVSCs are so important in the next-generation solar cells, why organometal halide perovskites work so well as light absorbers, and what the inherent differences are among different cell configurations. The prospects on how to realize scale-up industrialization of PVSCs have also been given in the sequence of efficiency, stability, cost, toxicity, and short-term objectives. Resolutions to the remaining challenges according to their orders of technical difficulty and importance have also been discussed. organometal halides, perovskite solar cells, cell configurations, efficiency records, stability, industrialization prospects Citation:Fang R, Zhang W J, Zhang S S, et al. The rising star in photovoltaics-perovskite solar cells: The past, present and future.

Scanning Thermo-Ionic Microscopy: Probing Nanoscale Electrochemistry via Thermal Stress-Induced Oscillation

“…The STIM mappings of ceria also were obtained using photo-thermal excitation through a contact mode scanning with a gold coated AFM probe (Multi75GD-G, Budget Sensors), as shown in Figure 8 around a pentagonal grain. Variation of thermal response in a grain shown in Figure 8b is similar to what we observed in Figure 7b, suggesting possible influence of topography on heat conduction, though the frequency variation in Figure 7c Finally, we show our preliminary results of STIM ionic mapping on CH3NH3PbI3, an emerging perovskite material for solar cells [45,46]. It has been reported that ionic motion in CH3NH3PbI3 occurs under light illumination or electric field [47], which has significant implication to its photovoltaic performance.…”

Electron‐Transport Materials in Perovskite Solar Cells

“…For example, both reports indicated that the unfavorable energy barrier present at the interface of FTO/TiO 2 and TiO 2 /MAPbI 3 causes hysteresis in planar PSCs . The unbalanced charge extraction is also regarded as one of the key factors for the current hysteresis phenomenon in different structures of PSCs, which is supported by the fact that the charge accumulation strongly distorts the perovskite structure at the interface and causes pronounced hysteresis . Aiming to suppress the charge accumulation caused by TiO 2 , numerous strategies have been explored to reduce the energy offset for electron extraction at the TiO 2 /perovskite interface, and the deep trap density cause by defects in the TiO 2 film.…”

Nanotube enhanced carbon grids as top electrodes for fully printable mesoscopic semitransparent perovskite solar cells

“…Inorganic-organic halide perovskite solar cells have attracted enormous attention as a promising photovoltaic technology due to their high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs), simple fabrication procedures, and low-cost [1][2][3][4] . In just a few years after its emergence, the PCE of perovskite solar cells has increased from 3.8% to 22.1% 5,6 .…”