The integration of photovoltaic devices with carbon-fibre composites

钙钛矿半导体是一种新型半导体，可用作光伏(太阳能电池)器件的有源层，直接从阳光中产生低碳电能。最好的钙钛矿型太阳能电池现在可以将阳光转化为电能，效率超过22%，这种设备是使用基于溶液的技术生产的。在这里，可以将钙钛矿前驱体溶液铺展在表面上，然后形成钙钛矿型半导体材料。这一工艺有望将钙钛矿‘打印’到表面，从而以非常低的成本生产太阳能电池。在本项目中，我们将重点研究使用喷涂法沉积钙钛矿型太阳能电池。在许多制造过程中，喷漆通常被用来涂油漆和颜料，关键的是，喷漆不仅限于涂覆平坦的表面，还可以覆盖曲面--例如汽车的曲面车顶。我们将充分利用这一点，并将首次详细研究使用喷涂层在非平面表面，例如圆柱体或翼型(类似于飞机机翼的形状)上涂覆钙钛矿型太阳能电池。我们相信，这项工作的成果将构成一系列新技术的基础。我们工作的一个特别重点将是使用基于喷涂的技术在碳纤维复合材料上涂覆钙钛矿型光伏。碳纤维已经作为一种高性能、轻质的工程材料在工业中得到广泛应用，例如，形成跑车车身、游艇船体和其他要求苛刻的应用。通过在碳纤维表面涂上太阳能电池，我们将能够创造出一种新型的超强、轻质材料，能够以低成本利用阳光发电。我们相信，这种材料在为移动应用发电方面将特别重要，并将在航空航天和汽车部门确定一系列应用。为了实现这一任务，我们组建了一支在制备钙钛矿太阳能电池的喷射和沉积技术开发方面拥有世界领先专业知识的研究人员团队，以及碳纤维复合材料加工和测试方面的专家。该项目的一个关键部分将是了解我们将沉积的不同材料与碳纤维表面之间的相互作用。我们将对我们开发的太阳能电池的机械性能进行全面的表征，并将探索将此类设备‘封装’以最大限度地延长其运行寿命的技术。

Perovskite semiconductors are a new class of semiconductor that can be used as the active layer in photovoltaic (solar cell) devices, producing low-carbon electricity directly from sunlight. The best perovskite solar cells can now convert sunlight to electrical energy with an efficiency of over 22%, with such devices being produced using solution based techniques. Here, a perovskite 'precursor' solution can be spread over a surface which then forms the perovskite semiconductor material. This process is expected to allow perovskites to be 'printed' onto surfaces, allowing solar cells to be produced at very low cost. In this project, we will focus on the use of spray-coating to deposit perovskite solar cells. Spray-coating is routinely used to coat paints and pigments in many manufacturing processes, and critically is not restricted to coating 'flat' surfaces, but can cover curved surfaces - for example the curved roof of an automobile. We will take full advantage of this, and will make the first detailed study of the use of spray-coating to coat perovskite solar cells over non-planar surfaces, e.g. over cylinders or aerofoil-shapes (similar to the shape of an aeroplane-wing). We believe that the results of this work will form the basis of a series of new technologies. A particular focus of our work will be to use spray-based techniques to coat perovskite PV over carbon-fibre composite materials. Carbon-fibre is already widely used in industry as a high-performance, light-weight engineering material - e.g. forming the body of sports-cars, the hulls of yachts and in other demanding applications. By coating the surface of carbon-fibre with a solar-cell, we will be able to create a new class of super-strong, lightweight materials that are able to generate electricity from sunlight at low cost. We believe such materials will be of particular importance in generating power for mobile applications, and will have identified a range of applications in the aerospace and automotive sectors. To realize such a task we have assembled a team of researchers having world-leading expertise in the development of spray and deposition techniques to fabricate perovskite solar cells, together with researchers expert in the processing and testing of carbon-fibre composite materials. A key part of the project will be to understand the interactions between the different materials that we will deposit and the carbon fibre surface. We will make a full characterization of the mechanical properties of the solar-cells we develop, and will explore techniques to 'encapsulate' such devices to maximise their operational lifetime.