Research Initiation Award: Environmentally friendly high performance perovskite solar cell with fortified stability

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Research Initiation Awards provide support for faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who are building a research program. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improves research and teaching at her home institution, and involves undergraduate students in research experiences. The award to Albany State University has potential broader and societal impact in a number of areas. The project focuses on contributing to the knowledge in solar energy science by studying the instability and toxicity of perovskite photovoltaic cells, while maintaining competitive efficiency. Undergraduate students, as well as high school students and teachers will gain research experiences. The project will be a first step in building a sustainable solar cell research program at the institution. The overall goal of the project is to concurrently address two critical issues of perovskite solar cells, instability and toxicity, without compromising performance. To achieve this, environmentally-friendly novel perovskite Cex(CH3NH3)1-xGeI3 will be synthesized with a facile, low cost approach to realize fortifiedstability and enhanced performance. A simple device with p-i-n planar architecture will be constructed. Lead will be replaced with germanium to minimize toxicity, and cesium partially incorporated to fortify stability. Meanwhile, the fundamental operative mechanism of perovskite solar cells will be elucidated by investigating cells with various configurations. The findings gained in the project will enrich knowledge in the photovoltaic field, facilitating the process of various practical applications and commercialization of perovskite solar cells. Particularly, the comprehensive understanding of the operative mechanisms will have a far-reaching impact on rational device design and optimizing device performance. The research will be integrated into introductory physics courses as well as analytical chemistry courses more appropriate for senior undergraduate students.