New Materials, Processes, and Cell Designs for Emerging Photovoltaic Technology

光伏（PV）设备-太阳能电池-是少数几种能够在全球范围内生产安全，清洁，可再生能源的技术之一，对于任何遏制化石燃料使用的努力都至关重要。在过去的四十年里，基于多晶硅的设备一直是光伏市场的主导技术。然而，最近的工作表明，两类新材料-有机半导体和卤化铅钙钛矿-可用于生产太阳能电池，大大降低成本和能源投入。不幸的是，这两种材料的商业潜力目前有限;有机光伏器件（OPV）的功率转换效率不到传统硅器件的一半，而钙钛矿太阳能电池（PSC）对水分和光敏感，导致器件寿命极短。拟议的研究将扩大现有的研究计划，重点是提高这些新兴光伏技术的效率，可扩展性和寿命。将合成新的共轭有机材料，并测试它们作为OPV中的光吸收层或PSC中的界面层的能力。在加拿大光源的先进同步加速器技术的指导下，将开发下一代处理方法以提高电池效率。最后，这些相同的同步加速器方法将用于研究这些太阳能电池在真实的世界条件下如何失效，从而能够识别和系统地消除电池失效机制。该计划的最终目标是开发新型、高性价比、高效率的光伏设备，这将有助于加拿大人减少对化石燃料的依赖，并履行其对气候变化巴黎协定的承诺。

Photovoltaic (PV) devices - solar cells - are one of the few technologies capable of producing safe, clean, renewable energy on a global scale, and will be crucial to any effort to curb the use of fossil fuels. For the past four decades, devices based on multi-crystalline silicon have been the dominant technology in the PV marketplace. However, recent work has shown that two new classes of materials - organic semiconductors and lead halide perovskites - can be used to produce solar cells with dramatically reduced costs and energy inputs. Unfortunately, the commercial potential of these two materials is currently limited; organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs) have a power conversion efficiency that is less than half that of conventional silicon devices, while perovskite solar cells (PSCs) suffer from a sensitivity to moisture and light, leading to extremely short device lifetimes.***The proposed research will expand upon an existing research program focused on improving the efficiency, scalability and lifetime of these emerging PV technologies. New conjugated organic materials will be synthesized and tested for their ability to function as either the light absorbing layer in OPVs or as the interfacial layer in PSCs. Guided by advanced synchrotron techniques available at the Canadian Light Source, next-generation processing methods will be developed to improve cell efficiency. Finally, these same synchrotron methods will be used to study how these solar cells fail under real world conditions, enabling cell failure mechanisms to be identified and systematically eliminated. The ultimate goal of this program is the development of new, cost-effective, high-efficiency photovoltaic devices, which will help enable Canadians to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and meet their commitments to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.