INTERVIEW – Perovskite solar cells to halve prices of solar power

Dec 12, 2016 19:30 CET by Mariyana Yaneva

December 12 – The price of perovskite solar cells would be less than half of silicon-based solar cells thanks to low temperature and solution-based processing of perovskite material, Ph.D. Candidate Rahim Munir tells SeeNews Renewables in an interview.

“I think, in a couple of years, we will start to see perovskite solar cell based products in the market. Companies like Oxford PV and Dyesol are moving in commercialization direction quite rapidly, Munir notes.

The Ph.D. candidate from King Abdullah University of Science & Technology has recently completed a research whose goal was to solve the issue of variability in the perovskite solar cells by understanding the core solution (liquid) to thin film (solid) state in detail. The research team performed time-resolved Grazing Incidence Wide Angle X-ray Scattering (GIWAXS) during spin coating. These X-ray scattering measurements were performed at Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) at Cornell University.

“The result is phenomenal as it opens up a new dimension towards solving the issue of reproducibility, which will help manufacturing cost go down significantly with less waste and also achieve efficiency at higher-than-usual levels, ” Munir says, adding that “our research is fundamental and universal in nature that the results can be applied to large area coating techniques like blade coating, wire bar coating etc.

This research has ignited a pathway to entirely new dimension of understanding the solution processing of hybrid lead halide perovskite material. In his study, he promotes the idea of knowing the as-cast state of the perovskite thin film before thermal treatment is as crucial as studying the material in its final form. Mostly published work in this field caters the last stage of the film after thermal treatment which is also equally important but to understand the changes occurring at the later stage, control of the as-cast thin film is of peak importance. This study not only highlights the decrease in the variability of the perovskite PV efficiencies but also reports about the different films formed with the alteration of lead halide. Solvent retention in thin films is different based on the lead halide used in the precursor. This aspect of solution processing has not been studied extensively since the beginning of the perovskite field, and their research is first of its kind.

Rahim added, “We will continue to explore more in this direction analyzing different solvent systems with the use of anti-solvent drip.”

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