Improving the stability, aesthetics and performance of perovskite materials for photovoltaics

能源的产生是人类在21世纪世纪面临的最重要的科学和技术挑战。为了满足日益增长的全球能源需求，开发低成本、易加工、高效的光伏材料是必不可少的。第三代太阳能光伏发电是一种潜在的低成本、易加工和高效的技术，为太阳能的研究提供了巨大的机会。国际光伏研究和技术的进步目前正以无与伦比的速度运行，SPECIFIC和Ser Solar集团做出了重大贡献。在过去几年中，溶液处理的卤化物钙钛矿基太阳能电池的发展非常迅速（达到15- 20%的效率，包括认证的20.1%），这使得它们成为开发具有成本和性能竞争力的PV技术的极强候选者。与通常受欢迎的硅太阳能电池相比，利用捕光钙钛矿化学物质的光伏器件可能提供更便宜和更简单的技术。然而，当前将钙钛矿用于PV应用时的问题包括物理化学降解、不稳定性和暴露于环境条件的寿命问题。当使用钙钛矿吸收剂时，上述问题的基本工作原理和理由尚未完全理解。该项目旨在通过识别和研究可能导致器件不稳定的制造条件或参数，更好地了解卤化物钙钛矿化学。荧光显微镜和荧光光谱是两种技术，将被应用于研究在不同条件下制备的一系列钙钛矿材料的光致发光性质和形貌。该项目研究将探索提高这些设备的效率和光捕获能力的途径。还存在使用X射线衍射来研究钙钛矿层的晶体结构并确定该层（在其他层中）的均匀性是否受到器件制造期间某些参数的改变的影响的范围。钙钛矿的降解被认为是由于与氧的反应而加剧的，这将使用瞬态吸收光谱作为监测卤化物-钙钛矿太阳能电池内氧扩散的方法来研究。总体目标是发展对器件物理学和光化学的理解，从而开发新材料以提高稳定性和成本，并在该领域的顶级国际期刊上发表世界领先的高影响力文章。

The generation of energy is the most important scientific and technological challenge that faces humankind in the 21st century. In order to supply the demand of increasing global energy requirements, the development of low cost, easily processable, efficient photovoltaics (PV) is essential. Third generation PV offers a potentially low cost, easily processable and efficient technology and before us lays a great opportunity in solar energy research. International progress in PV research and technology is currently running at an unparalleled rate, with major contributions from the SPECIFIC and Ser Solar groups. The extremely rapid evolution of solution processed halide perovskite-based solar cells during the last few years (reaching efficiencies in the range of 15-20%, including certified 20.1%) makes them an extremely strong candidate to develop a cost and performance competitive PV technology. Photovoltaic devices which utilise light harvesting perovskite chemistries could potentially offer a cheaper and simpler technology in comparison to the typically favoured silicon solar cell. However, current issues when using perovskites for PV application include physicochemical degradation, instability and lifetime issues up on exposure to ambient conditions. The fundamental workings and reasoning for the aforementioned problems when using perovskite absorbers are yet to be fully understood. The project is concerned with gaining a better understanding of halide perovskite chemistry through identification and investigation of the manufacturing conditions or parameters which may lead to device instabilities. Fluorescence microscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy are two techniques which will be applied to investigate the photoluminescent properties and morphologies of a range of perovskite materials prepared under different conditions. The project research will explore routes to increasing the efficiency and light harvesting ability of these devices. There is also scope to use X-ray diffraction to investigate the crystalline structure of the perovskite layer and to determine whether the uniformity of this layer (amongst other layers) is affected by the alteration of certain parameters during device manufacture. The degradation of perovskite is believed to be exacerbated due to reaction with oxygen which will be investigated using transient absorption spectroscopy as a method to monitor oxygen diffusion within halide-perovskite solar cells. The overall aim is to develop an understanding of device photophysics and photochemistry resulting in the development of new materials to improve stability and cost and leading to world leading, high impact articles in the premier international journals in the field.