Towards Self-scrubbing Stable and Scalable Perovskite Solar Cells

对于这种易于加工的太阳能电池来说，超导太阳能电池（PSC）显示出前所未有的效率水平，并且比最常见但更昂贵的硅电池的效率更高。它们具有提供低成本太阳能电力的巨大潜力。预计会产生惊人的影响，但由于钙钛矿相的稳定性差以及对铅的使用，特别是其潜在的环境释放的担忧而受到阻碍。铅也是一种相对高度管制的元素。在这项提案中，我们的领先化学家，材料科学家，设备物理学家和理论家团队将通过综合合作研究来解决这些问题。在我们以前工作的基础上，我们将通过探索新的钙钛矿、形态和使用添加剂的稳定性，提高对PSC降解关键机制的理解。缺陷（结构缺陷）和PSC性能/稳定性之间的联系将通过实验和使用最先进的建模技术进行研究。该方法将为钙钛矿配方的预测指南提供良好的基础，以实现稳定的环境友好，廉价的PV单元的大规模使用。钙钛矿材料最吸引人的方面之一是电荷对光生的高效率和这些电荷的长寿命。我们将使用新的超快时间尺度光谱技术来获得有关钙钛矿光激发态动力学的新见解。我们将通过研究新的无铅钙钛矿以及通过在含铅和锡的PSC内开发新的重金属自擦洗支架来解决PSC失效（和进水）时潜在的重金属污染问题。这将为制备大面积、高性能、稳定和环境安全的PSC提供一种新的气溶胶辅助薄膜沉积方法。我们的目标是提供环境安全的原型，演示，大面积PSC，具有增强的操作稳定性，可以大规模生产，功率转换效率超过20%。该项目的成功结果将提供对钙钛矿组成与器件性能之间相互作用的基本理解，以及新的PSC，这将使钙钛矿光催化剂的大规模部署更接近于无CO2发电。

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) show unprecedented levels of efficiency for such easy to process solar cells, and are higher than those of most common, but more expensive, silicon cells. They have an excellent potential to provide low-cost solar electricity. Spectacular impact is expected but is hindered by poor stability of the perovskite phase and concerns about the use of lead and especially its potential release into the environment. Lead is also a relatively highly regulated element. In this proposal, our team of leading chemists, materials scientists, device physicists and theorists, will address these issues through an integrated collaborative study. Building on our previous work we will improve the understanding of the key mechanisms responsible for PSC degradation, by exploring new perovskites, morphologies and stabilisation by the use of additives. The link between defects (structural imperfections) and PSC performance/stability will be investigated experimentally and using state-of-the-art modelling techniques. The approach will provide a sound basis for predictive guidelines for perovskite formulation to enable stable environmentally benign, inexpensive PV units for mass use. Among the most intriguing aspects of perovskite materials are the high efficiency of charge pair photo-generation and the long lifetime of these charges. We will use new ultrafast timescale spectroscopic techniques to obtain new insights concerning the dynamics of the perovskite photo-excited states. We will address issues of potential heavy metal contamination, in the event of PSC failure (and water ingress) by studying new lead-free perovskites as well as by developing new heavy metal self-scrubbing scaffolds within lead- and tin-containing PSCs. A new aerosol-assisted film deposition approach for fabrication of large area, high performance, stable and environmental safe PSCs will result. Our ambition is to provide prototype environmentally safe, demonstration, large area PSCs with enhanced operational stability that could be mass produced and have power conversion efficiencies exceeding 20%. A successful outcome to this project would provide improved fundamental understanding of the interplay between perovskite composition and device performance and new PSCs that would bring about the large-scale deployment of perovskite photovoltaics for CO2-free electricity generation closer.