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将至关重要。在过去的40年里，基于多晶硅的设备一直是光伏市场的主导技术。然而，最近的研究表明，两种新材料有机半导体和卤化铅钙钛矿可以用来生产太阳能电池，大大降低成本和能量投入。不幸的是，这两种材料的商业潜力目前是有限的；有机光伏器件(OPV)的电能转换效率不到传统硅器件的一半，而钙钛矿型太阳能电池(PSC)对湿度和光敏感，导致器件寿命极短。*拟议的研究将在现有研究计划的基础上扩展，专注于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，并测试其作为OPVs的光吸收层或PSCs的界面层的能力。在加拿大光源公司先进的同步加速器技术的指导下，将开发下一代处理方法，以提高电池的效率。最后，这些相同的同步加速器方法将被用来研究这些太阳能电池在现实世界条件下是如何失效的，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的、具有成本效益的高效光伏设备，这将有助于加拿大人减少对化石燃料的依赖，并履行他们对《巴黎气候变化协定》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.