Perovskite single-crystals for 30% concentrator photovoltaics

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Capturing green and renewable energy, such as solar energy by photovoltaics, plays a significant role in mitigating climate change. Conventional (or flat-plate) photovoltaics currently dominate the solar market, even though the other type of - concentration photovoltaics (CPVs) offer higher power conversion efficiencies due to concentration effect. The key issue with the commercialized CPVs is the high cost of the triple/quadruple junction III-V solar cells used in them. In addition, multi-junction cells are designed to produce matching electrical currents within each subcell at an ideal 1 sun condition. However, diffuse light, which occurs in non-1-sun (e.g., most of Canada) or polluted conditions (e.g., cities), has spectral variations leading to significant current mismatches between individual cells and a sharp decrease in power output. This project aims to transform the CPV technology by developing single-junction CPVs based on perovskite single crystals. Perovskite single crystals can now be grown as cheap as ~$1/cm3 - in part due to our works on perovskite crystallization5 - orders of magnitude cheaper than III-V crystals used in conventional CPVs. Despite having a lower output in 'ideal' conditions, single-junction cells' independence from weather fluctuations eventually leads to higher accumulated power output.