Moisture encapsulants for stable perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells

peroproject1

In order to move to a low-carbon future and avoid the worst effects of anthropogenic climate change, continuing reductions in the cost of renewable energy are required. Oxford Materials researchers are working to reduce the cost of solar electricity by fully exploiting the efficiency potential of tandem photovoltaic cells. Tandem devices have emerged as a key enabling technology to achieve improvements in efficiency of solar panels and open the way to terawatt scale solar energy. The most promising tandem architecture is that composed of a mixed halide perovskite solar cell on top of an industrial mainstream silicon solar cell. However, one of the main issues in the deployment of this technology is the lack of stability of perovskite cells. Building on our experience of encapsulation layers for organic electronics, the main aim of this research project is to pioneer new encapsulation materials with the potential of protecting the solar cells from moisture-related degradation. This project will involve the development of new material synthesis recipes and process conditions, including, for example exploiting ALD, and electrical and optical characterisation of devices when exposed to harsh environmental conditions. The developments here can impact the development of next-generation photovoltaic technology and result in reductions in the cost and wide deployment of solar energy.

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