I-Corps: Printable Carbon-based Perovskite Thin Film Solar Cells

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种具有成本效益的可再生太阳能技术，以收集阳光转化为电力。太阳能电池直接将太阳能转化为可再生和可持续的电能。与其他组件相比，薄膜太阳能电池具有成本低、效率高等优点。这项拟议的技术将研究更实惠和更可持续的薄膜太阳能电池的应用。这个i-Corps项目探索了一种低成本的碳基钙钛矿太阳能电池技术的翻译，以超低成本的碳电极取代传统钙钛矿中高成本的金属背触点(银和金)。全球太阳能市场主要由体硅组件和薄膜CdTe太阳能电池主导。这两种方法都需要很高的能源消耗来生产硅晶片和蒸发的CdTe，在制造过程中会产生环境问题，并且需要高成本的回收工艺。建议的低温处理不需要昂贵的真空沉积，可以进一步降低制造成本、能源消耗和对昂贵设施的需求。碳基钙钛矿还防止了钙钛矿太阳能电池中不稳定有机空穴传输层的产生，使其更加稳定。所提出的碳电极可能提供有希望的空穴提取。这种碳基钙钛矿太阳能电池技术可以印刷在现有的传统太阳能组件上，如碲化镉和硅太阳能组件，通过形成串联太阳能电池来提供额外的发电。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a cost-effective renewable solar technology to harvest sunlight for conversion into electricity. Solar cells directly convert solar energy into renewable and sustainable electricity. Thin film solar cells have advantages such as low cost and high-efficiency compared with the other modules. The proposed technology will investigate applications of more affordable and sustainable thin film solar cells. This I-Corps project explores translation of a low-cost, carbon-based perovskite solar cell technology to replace the high-cost metal back contact (silver and gold) in the traditional perovskite with an ultralow-cost carbon electrode. The worldwide solar energy market is dominated by the bulk Si module and thin film CdTe solar cells. Both approaches require high energy consumption to produce the Si wafer and vaporized CdTe, generate environmental issues during manufacturing, and require high-cost recycling processes. The proposed low-temperature processing without the need for expensive vacuum deposition may further reduce manufacturing costs, energy consumption, and the need for expensive facilities. The carbon-based perovskite also prevents the generation of the unstable organic hole transport layer in the perovskite solar cells, making it much more stable. The proposed carbon electrode may provide promising hole extraction. This carbon-based perovskite solar cell technology could be printed on the existing traditional solar modules, such as the cadmium telluride and silicon solar module, to provide extra power generation by forming tandem solar cells.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.