Scientists from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have published a paper in Nature Energy outlining their engineering of a new hole-transporter for perovskite solar cells. They have been able to accomplish this while maintaining the solar cell’s efficiency above 20 percent—an important marker in the field of solar energy.
As the quality of perovskite films increases, researchers are seeking other ways of improving the overall performance of solar cells. Inadvertently, this search targets the other key element of a solar panel, the hole-transporting layer, and specifically, the materials that make them up. There are currently only two hole-transporting materials available for perovskite-based solar cells. Both types are quite costly to synthesize, adding to the overall expense of the solar cell.
To address this problem, a team of researchers led by Mohammad Nazeeruddin at EPFL developed a molecularly engineered hole-transporting material, called FDT, that can bring costs down while keeping efficiency up to competitive levels. Tests showed that the efficiency of FDT rose to 20.2% – higher than the other two, more expensive alternatives. And because FDT can be easily modified, it acts as a blueprint for an entire generation of new low-cost hole-transporting materials.
Creating cheaper, efficient renewable energy is the mandate of anyone working in the field and this is very cool news indeed.