Colour, Stability and Sustainability of Perovskite Photovoltaics

Colour, Stability and Sustainability of Perovskite Photovoltaics

Matthew L. Davies, Emmanuel V. Péan, Alex Doolin, Rodrigo García-Rodríguez and Rhys Charles

Applied Photochemistry Group, SPECIFIC IKC, Materials Research Centre, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Swansea University, UK

m.l.davies@swansea.ac.uk 

Abstract:

The remarkable evolution of perovskite-based solar cells (PSCs) during the last few years, reaching certified power conversion efficiencies over 25%¹ makes them an extremely strong candidate to develop a low cost, low embodied energy, performance-competitive PV technology. However, sustainability, stability and lifetime issues, and a detailed understanding of the fundamental workings of perovskite absorbers are yet to be fully understood.  We will present an interesting approach to tune to the colour and properties of PSCs through co-sensitisation with organic dyes.² We will also discuss our progress with understanding the stability of mesoporous carbon perovskite solar cells (m‐CPSC) through measuring superoxide formation in these devices.³ m‐CPSCs infiltrated with CH₃NH₃PbI₃ perovskite, have presented excellent lifetimes of more than 10,000 h and are among the frontrunners to commercialisation of perovskite PV. The prospect of industrial manufacture for PSC is in part hampered by concerns regarding the safety and sustainability of the solvents used in lab scale manufacture. We will discuss a methodology for green solvent selection informed by EHS considerations from the CHEM-21 solvent guide for successful methylammonium lead triiodide (MAPbI₃) precursor dissolution and alternative solvents for the manufacture of m-CPSCs.^4,5 

Additionally, although viewed as ‘green’ technologies due to their ability to generate renewable solar energy, emerging photovoltaic technologies, including perovskites, have environmental impacts associated with their production and will contain hazardous components. Widespread deployment will require a continued supply of critical materials and full lifecycle optimization is necessary at this early stage in development to make these technologies truly sustainable. Here we will discuss the work of The Applied Photochemistry Group at the SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre, Swansea University, which aims to develop an understanding of the photo-stability and photochemistry of materials and devices to advance sustainable photovoltaics from lab-scale to production scale manufacture.

 

References: 

1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Best Research-Cell Efficiencies. (2021). Available at: https://www.nrel.gov/pv/assets/pdfs/best-research-cell-efficiencies.20190923.pdf
2. Tamara D. McFarlane, Catherine S. De Castro, Peter J. Holliman, Matthew L. Davies. Chemical Communications. 2018; 55(1).
3. E.V. Péan, C.S. De Castro, S. Dimitrov, F. De Rossi, S. Meroni, J. Baker, T.M. Watson, M.L. Davies. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2020, 30, 1909839.
4. A. J. Doolin, R. G. Charles, C. S. P. De Castro, R. G. Rodriguez, E. V. Péan, R. Patidar, T. Dunlop, C. Charbonneau, T. Watson, and M. L. Davies. Green Chem., 2021, 23, 2471–2486.
5. Worsley, C., Raptis, D., Meroni, S., Doolin, A., Garcia-Rodriguez, R., Davies, M. and Watson, T. Energy Technol., 2021, 9: 2100312.