Perovskite single-crystals for 30% concentrator photovoltaics

利用光伏获取绿色和可再生能源，如太阳能，在减缓气候变化方面发挥着重要作用。传统(或平板)光伏目前主导着太阳能市场，尽管另一种类型的集中式光伏(CPV)由于集中效应提供了更高的电能转换效率。商业化的CPV的关键问题是其中使用的三/四结III-V太阳能电池的高成本。此外，多结电池被设计成在理想的1太阳条件下在每个子电池内产生匹配的电流。然而，漫反射光出现在非1太阳光(例如加拿大大部分地区)或污染条件下(例如城市)，具有光谱变化，导致单个电池之间的电流严重失配，并导致功率输出急剧下降。该项目旨在通过开发基于钙钛矿型单晶的单结CPV来改变CPV技术。现在，钙钛矿单晶的生长成本可以低至1美元/立方米--部分原因是我们在钙钛矿结晶方面的工作--比传统CPV中使用的III-V晶体便宜5个数量级。尽管在“理想”条件下，单结电池的输出功率较低，但单结电池不受天气波动的影响，最终会导致更高的累积功率输出。

Capturing green and renewable energy, such as solar energy by photovoltaics, plays a significant role in mitigating climate change. Conventional (or flat-plate) photovoltaics currently dominate the solar market, even though the other type of - concentration photovoltaics (CPVs) offer higher power conversion efficiencies due to concentration effect. The key issue with the commercialized CPVs is the high cost of the triple/quadruple junction III-V solar cells used in them. In addition, multi-junction cells are designed to produce matching electrical currents within each subcell at an ideal 1 sun condition. However, diffuse light, which occurs in non-1-sun (e.g., most of Canada) or polluted conditions (e.g., cities), has spectral variations leading to significant current mismatches between individual cells and a sharp decrease in power output. This project aims to transform the CPV technology by developing single-junction CPVs based on perovskite single crystals. Perovskite single crystals can now be grown as cheap as ~$1/cm3 - in part due to our works on perovskite crystallization5 - orders of magnitude cheaper than III-V crystals used in conventional CPVs. Despite having a lower output in 'ideal' conditions, single-junction cells' independence from weather fluctuations eventually leads to higher accumulated power output.