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According to an international research team, the design of new ultra-thin metal electrodes allows scientists to create highly efficient translucent perovskite solar cells that can be paired with traditional silicon cells, thereby greatly improving the performance of the two devices.

This research represents a step towards the development of fully transparent solar cells.

Transparent solar cells can one day find a place on the windows of homes and office buildings, using sunlight that would otherwise be wasted to generate electricity. This is a big step-we finally succeeded in manufacturing efficient, translucent solar cells.

Kai Wang, Co-author and Assistant Research Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Research, Pennsylvania State University

Although traditional solar cells are made of silicon, researchers believe that they are approaching the limits of technology on the road to creating more efficient solar cells. The researchers said that perovskite batteries are a potential alternative, and stacking them on top of traditional batteries can make more efficient tandem devices.

We have proven that we can use very thin gold with almost a few atomic layers to make electrodes. The thin gold layer has high conductivity, and it will not interfere with the battery's ability to absorb sunlight.

Shashank Priya, Vice President of Research and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University

The team developed a perovskite solar cell with an efficiency of 19.8%, setting a record for translucent cells. In addition, when integrated with traditional silicon solar cells, the tandem device achieves an efficiency of 28.3%, which is higher than the 23.3% of only silicon cells. The researchers published their findings in the journal Nano Energy.

Priya said: "The 5% increase in efficiency is huge. This basically means that each square meter of solar cell material has to convert about 50 watts of sunlight. A solar farm can consist of thousands of modules, so together it can generate a lot of electricity. , This is a major breakthrough."

According to the researchers, in an earlier study, the ultra-thin gold film showed potential as a transparent electrode for perovskite solar cells, but the problem of making a uniform layer resulted in poor conductivity.

The team found that using chromium as a seed layer enables gold to form a constant ultra-thin layer with good electrical conductivity on top.

Normally, if you grow a thin layer of something like gold, the nanoparticles will couple together and cluster together like small islands. Chromium has a large surface energy, which provides a good place for gold to grow on it. It actually makes gold form a continuous film.

Dong Yang, Assistant Research Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University

Perovskite solar cells consist of five layers and other materials that have been tested as battery layers with damaged or degraded transparent electrodes. The researchers said that solar cells made of gold electrodes are sturdy and durable, and have maintained high efficiency for many years in laboratory tests.

"This breakthrough in the design of tandem cell architecture based on transparent electrodes provides an effective path for the transition to perovskite and tandem solar cells," Yang added.

Postdoctoral scholars Tao Ye and Jungjin Yoon from Pennsylvania State University and doctoral student Yuchen Hou also contributed to this research.

Also contributing to this research are Zhang Xiaorong Zhang of Shaanxi Normal University, China; Shengzhong Liu, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Wu Congcong of Hubei University, China; and Mohan Sanghadasa of the US Army Combat Capability Development Command.

This research received financial support from the Office of Naval Research, the Army’s Rapid Innovation Fund, and the Office of Air Force Scientific Research.

Yang, D., etc. (2021) 28.3% efficiency perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell, through the best transparent electrode for high-efficiency translucent top cells. Nano energy. doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2021.105934.

Source: https://www.psu.edu/

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