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According to a recent report from the Physicist Organization Network on January 8 (Beijing time), researchers at the University of Nottingham in the United States have made a breakthrough by discovering an affordable inorganic material that could replace costly organic hole conductors in perovskite solar cells. This development has the potential to significantly reduce production costs and improve efficiency. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Perovskite solar cells are considered one of the most promising photovoltaic technologies today, with a theoretical conversion efficiency of up to 50%, which is double that of conventional solar cells. While perovskite materials themselves are relatively inexpensive, the use of organic hole-transport materials like spiro-OMeTAD remains a major cost driver. In fact, spiro-OMeTAD is more expensive than gold—over ten times its price.
In their latest research, scientists Jeffery Chris, Raymond Fung, and Prasty Cartem from the University of Notre Dame in the U.S. found that copper iodide, an inorganic material, can serve as a viable alternative to spiro-OMeTAD. This discovery could mark a significant shift in the industry.
"The new inorganic hole-conducting material we've discovered is much more cost-effective than previous options," said Chris. "We believe it will help further lower the manufacturing cost of these solar cells."
Perovskite materials have a unique crystal structure that offers natural advantages for solar cell applications. They allow for high charge carrier mobility and excellent light diffusion, which minimizes energy loss during the photovoltaic process. Although copper iodide has been used before in other types of solar cells, such as dye-sensitized and quantum dot cells, its conductivity is two orders of magnitude higher than that of spiro-OMeTAD. This leads to a better fill factor and greater power output in solar cells made with it.
However, current results show that perovskite solar cells using copper iodide still lag behind traditional designs in terms of conversion efficiency. Researchers suggest this may be due to a lower voltage, but they believe this issue could be addressed by reducing the recombination rate in the future.
Another advantage of copper iodide-based solar cells is their stability. Experiments showed that after two hours of continuous exposure to light, the current in the copper iodide cell remained unchanged, while the current in the spiro-OMeTAD cell dropped by 10%. This stability is a crucial factor for real-world applications.
Chris noted that the next step for the team is to refine the experimental process to achieve higher conversion efficiency. With continued improvements, this technology could soon become a game-changer in the renewable energy sector.
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