New additive to improve the stability of perovskite solar cells, explain researchers

According to material science, perovskite solar cells (PVSCs) are an attractive alternative to conventional silicon-based solar cells, owing to their low cost and high power conversion efficiency.

However, researchers have not been able to achieve long-term stability, which has been one of the major challenges in the development of PVSCs.

Recently, in a breakthrough development, a team of researchers at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) developed a non-volatile and multifunctional additive that can enhance the stability and efficiency of these cells by modifying perovskite film growth. This easy and effective approach has great potential for accelerating the commercialization of PVSCs.

This type of multifunctional additive can typically be used to create various perovskite compositions for creating highly stable and efficient PVSCs. Furthermore, the high-quality perovskite films will allow upscaling of larger area solar panels, explained the lead researcher of the study.

Meanwhile, PVSCs have attracted considerable attention due to their outstanding solar power conversion efficiency (PCE). Due to the ability of perovskites to be deposited on fabrication surfaces, PVSCs display the potential to be applied on wearable devices, building-integrated photovoltaics, and solar farm applications.

On the downside, stability and efficiency are still affected by excess energy loss associated with imperfections embedded at the grain boundaries and interfaces of perovskites. Therefore, the inherent quality of perovskite film plays a crucial role to determine the achievable stability and efficiency of PVSCs.

Earlier, several research studies have focused on improving film quality and morphology with volatile additives. Due to their, volatility, these additives tend to evaporate from the film after annealing, resulting in a void at the perovskite-substrate interface.

In order to address these issues, the researchers at CityU developed an easy but effective approach to modulating perovskite film growth to improve film quality.