All-perovskite Multi-junction Solar Cells
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Oxford Physics
Abstract
A major global challenge of the present epoch is transforming our energy system to become clean, secure and efficient. A major challenge for the UK is ensuring industrial leadership in low-carbon energy technologies, which will dominate the future energy market, and "securing the economic benefits of the transition to a low-carbon economy". In this prosperity partnership, we have uniquely combined pioneering academic and industrial leaders in perovskite photovoltaics and will develop the underlying materials, science and technology, which will allow us to develop the next generation of multi-junction perovskite solar cells. The ambition of the project is to go well beyond the state-of-the-art, and therefore deliver over 37% efficient triple junction perovskite solar cells. This will be possible through a combined effort of new materials development, fundamental investigations, thin-film device engineering and interface modification, and significant effort on understanding and improving materials and device stability. The major technical outputs of the project will be to deliver technology at three different stages, for beyond project downstream development and manufacturing.
Planned Impact
Metal halide perovskite solar cells are rapidly approaching performances that can rival those of crystalline silicon (c-Si). However, mainstream PV module manufacturing costs have continued to diminish so extensively over the last decade that now the cost of the module amounts to less than half the overall solar PV installation in utility scale projects. Most of the non-module costs, referred to as the balance of systems (BoS) cost, scale with area of deployed PV rather than power generated. Therefore, increasing the overall power output of the module per unit area, i.e. efficiency, is the surest means to continue to drive down the overall cost of installed PV generated electricity. Within this project we will develop the foundations for a viable, highly efficient, thin-film multi-junction perovskite PV technology with much higher efficiency than c-Si devices can achieve alone, ensuring a place for perovskite solar cells in a market estimated to be worth over $300bn by 2020. OXPV is pioneering the development and industrialisation of perovskite photovoltaic (PV) technologies. OXPV's "go-to-market" strategy is to boost the efficiency of existing Silicon PV, by coating perovskite cells on top of silicon wafers, and partner with existing silicon manufactures. However, the opportunity for an all perovskite thin-film technology is different. Over the next few years, the perovskite technology per-se will be de-risked, by real product entering the market in the form of perovskite-on-silicon tandem cells. Therefore, there exists an opportunity to establish independent manufacturing of the next generation all-perovskite multi-junction technology which we will develop in this project. This will be the seed which will enable a UK effort to capture a significant fraction of the future PV market. .
Beyond economic impact, there is overwhelming evidence that our increasing consumption of fossil fuels and the associated emission of carbon dioxide is leading to climate change. This has brought new urgency to the development of clean, renewable sources of energy, and to reduction of our energy consumption by developing new low energy consumption devices to satisfy the growing demand. Photovoltaic devices that harvest the energy provided by the sun have great potential to contribute to the solution. The fundamentally more efficient thin-film technology which we will develop here will enable the cost of PV electricity to continue to drop for decades to come, accelerating the transition to entirely clean electricity generation.
Historically, discussions and targets on mitigating climate change have been based on the ethos of how do we solve this challenge and how much is it going to cost us? Whereas, it is now very apparent that the PV technologies which are delivering clean energy, are set on a trajectory to not just match the electricity generation costs from fossil fuels, but to continuously and progressively undercut them. The next generation of PV technologies which we are developing here therefore offer the possibility of significantly reducing the global cost of power, and resultantly enabling a positive transformation in society and the standard of living across the globe.
Beyond commercial, economic, environmental and societal impact, the activities within this project will aid in the training and education of both scientists and the general public. The training of PDRAs and PhD students in this industrially relevant area will create an employment pool for jobs in research, R&D, energy sectors and other economic areas, and carry the knowledge and skills they acquire into those fields. Public outreach events, such as hands on experimental activities at schools, and lectures to the general public and professional societies, will be enhanced by the excitement of rapidly advancing research and technology in an area where there is already great public interest.
Beyond economic impact, there is overwhelming evidence that our increasing consumption of fossil fuels and the associated emission of carbon dioxide is leading to climate change. This has brought new urgency to the development of clean, renewable sources of energy, and to reduction of our energy consumption by developing new low energy consumption devices to satisfy the growing demand. Photovoltaic devices that harvest the energy provided by the sun have great potential to contribute to the solution. The fundamentally more efficient thin-film technology which we will develop here will enable the cost of PV electricity to continue to drop for decades to come, accelerating the transition to entirely clean electricity generation.
Historically, discussions and targets on mitigating climate change have been based on the ethos of how do we solve this challenge and how much is it going to cost us? Whereas, it is now very apparent that the PV technologies which are delivering clean energy, are set on a trajectory to not just match the electricity generation costs from fossil fuels, but to continuously and progressively undercut them. The next generation of PV technologies which we are developing here therefore offer the possibility of significantly reducing the global cost of power, and resultantly enabling a positive transformation in society and the standard of living across the globe.
Beyond commercial, economic, environmental and societal impact, the activities within this project will aid in the training and education of both scientists and the general public. The training of PDRAs and PhD students in this industrially relevant area will create an employment pool for jobs in research, R&D, energy sectors and other economic areas, and carry the knowledge and skills they acquire into those fields. Public outreach events, such as hands on experimental activities at schools, and lectures to the general public and professional societies, will be enhanced by the excitement of rapidly advancing research and technology in an area where there is already great public interest.
People |
ORCID iD |
Henry Snaith (Principal Investigator) | |
Laura Herz (Co-Investigator) |
Publications
Tremblay M
(2020)
A photo-crosslinkable bis-triarylamine side-chain polymer as a hole-transport material for stable perovskite solar cells
in Sustainable Energy & Fuels
Lin YH
(2020)
A piperidinium salt stabilizes efficient metal-halide perovskite solar cells.
in Science (New York, N.Y.)
Sakai N
(2021)
Adduct-based p-doping of organic semiconductors.
in Nature materials
Lim V
(2022)
Air-Degradation Mechanisms in Mixed Lead-Tin Halide Perovskites for Solar Cells
in Advanced Energy Materials
Jin H
(2023)
Alumina Nanoparticle Interfacial Buffer Layer for Low-Bandgap Lead-Tin Perovskite Solar Cells
in Advanced Functional Materials
Ohad G
(2022)
Band gaps of halide perovskites from a Wannier-localized optimally tuned screened range-separated hybrid functional
in Physical Review Materials
Lal S
(2023)
Bandlike Transport and Charge-Carrier Dynamics in BiOI Films.
in The journal of physical chemistry letters
Savill KJ
(2019)
Charge-Carrier Cooling and Polarization Memory Loss in Formamidinium Tin Triiodide.
in The journal of physical chemistry letters
Buizza L
(2019)
Charge-Carrier Dynamics, Mobilities, and Diffusion Lengths of 2D-3D Hybrid Butylammonium-Cesium-Formamidinium Lead Halide Perovskites
in Advanced Functional Materials
Buizza LRV
(2021)
Charge-Carrier Mobility and Localization in Semiconducting Cu2AgBiI6 for Photovoltaic Applications.
in ACS energy letters
Trimpl M
(2020)
Charge-Carrier Trapping and Radiative Recombination in Metal Halide Perovskite Semiconductors
in Advanced Functional Materials
Ulatowski AM
(2020)
Charge-Carrier Trapping Dynamics in Bismuth-Doped Thin Films of MAPbBr3 Perovskite.
in The journal of physical chemistry letters
Sansom HC
(2021)
Chemical Control of the Dimensionality of the Octahedral Network of Solar Absorbers from the CuI-AgI-BiI3 Phase Space by Synthesis of 3D CuAgBiI5.
in Inorganic chemistry
Shen X
(2023)
Chloride-Based Additive Engineering for Efficient and Stable Wide-Bandgap Perovskite Solar Cells.
in Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
Putland B
(2024)
Compositional Transformation and Impurity-Mediated Optical Transitions in Co-Evaporated Cu 2 AgBiI 6 Thin Films for Photovoltaic Applications
in Advanced Energy Materials
Khenkin M
(2020)
Consensus statement for stability assessment and reporting for perovskite photovoltaics based on ISOS procedures
in Nature Energy
Moot T
(2020)
CsI-Antisolvent Adduct Formation in All-Inorganic Metal Halide Perovskites
in Advanced Energy Materials
Motti S
(2020)
CsPbBr 3 Nanocrystal Films: Deviations from Bulk Vibrational and Optoelectronic Properties
in Advanced Functional Materials
Wright M
(2023)
Design considerations for the bottom cell in perovskite/silicon tandems: a terawatt scalability perspective
in Energy & Environmental Science
Marshall A
(2020)
Dimethylammonium: An A-Site Cation for Modifying CsPbI 3
in Solar RRL
Sturdza B
(2024)
Direct observation of phase transitions between delta- and alpha-phase FAPbI 3 via defocused Raman spectroscopy
in Journal of Materials Chemistry A
Ball J
(2019)
Dual-Source Coevaporation of Low-Bandgap FA 1- x Cs x Sn 1- y Pb y I 3 Perovskites for Photovoltaics
in ACS Energy Letters
Lim J
(2019)
Elucidating the long-range charge carrier mobility in metal halide perovskite thin films
in Energy & Environmental Science
Noel N
(2019)
Elucidating the Role of a Tetrafluoroborate-Based Ionic Liquid at the n-Type Oxide/Perovskite Interface
in Advanced Energy Materials
Tiwari V
(2019)
Evidence and implications for exciton dissociation in lead halide perovskites
in EPJ Web of Conferences
Kober-Czerny M
(2022)
Excellent Long-Range Charge-Carrier Mobility in 2D Perovskites
in Advanced Functional Materials
Motti S
(2023)
Exciton Formation Dynamics and Band-Like Free Charge-Carrier Transport in 2D Metal Halide Perovskite Semiconductors
in Advanced Functional Materials
Lau C
(2019)
Fabrication of Efficient and Stable CsPbI 3 Perovskite Solar Cells through Cation Exchange Process
in Advanced Energy Materials
Knight AJ
(2021)
Halide Segregation in Mixed-Halide Perovskites: Influence of A-Site Cations.
in ACS energy letters
Sansom HC
(2021)
Highly Absorbing Lead-Free Semiconductor Cu2AgBiI6 for Photovoltaic Applications from the Quaternary CuI-AgI-BiI3 Phase Space.
in Journal of the American Chemical Society
Keeble DJ
(2021)
Identification of lead vacancy defects in lead halide perovskites.
in Nature communications
Lim V
(2022)
Impact of Hole-Transport Layer and Interface Passivation on Halide Segregation in Mixed-Halide Perovskites
in Advanced Functional Materials
Savill K
(2020)
Impact of Tin Fluoride Additive on the Properties of Mixed Tin-Lead Iodide Perovskite Semiconductors
in Advanced Functional Materials
Jeong W
(2021)
In situ cadmium surface passivation of perovskite nanocrystals for blue LEDs
in Journal of Materials Chemistry A
Mazzarella L
(2019)
Infrared Light Management Using a Nanocrystalline Silicon Oxide Interlayer in Monolithic Perovskite/Silicon Heterojunction Tandem Solar Cells with Efficiency above 25%
in Advanced Energy Materials
Noel N
(2019)
Interfacial charge-transfer doping of metal halide perovskites for high performance photovoltaics
in Energy & Environmental Science
McMeekin DP
(2023)
Intermediate-phase engineering via dimethylammonium cation additive for stable perovskite solar cells.
in Nature materials
Parrott E
(2018)
Interplay of Structural and Optoelectronic Properties in Formamidinium Mixed Tin-Lead Triiodide Perovskites
in Advanced Functional Materials
Buizza L
(2021)
Interplay of Structure, Charge-Carrier Localization and Dynamics in Copper-Silver-Bismuth-Halide Semiconductors
in Advanced Functional Materials
Hassan Y
(2021)
Ligand-engineered bandgap stability in mixed-halide perovskite LEDs.
in Nature
DeQuilettes D
(2020)
Maximizing the external radiative efficiency of hybrid perovskite solar cells
in Pure and Applied Chemistry
Klug M
(2020)
Metal composition influences optoelectronic quality in mixed-metal lead-tin triiodide perovskite solar absorbers
in Energy & Environmental Science
Ramadan A
(2023)
Methylammonium-free wide-bandgap metal halide perovskites for tandem photovoltaics
in Nature Reviews Materials
Bowman A
(2019)
Microsecond Carrier Lifetimes, Controlled p-Doping, and Enhanced Air Stability in Low-Bandgap Metal Halide Perovskites
in ACS Energy Letters
Yang F
(2023)
Minimizing Interfacial Recombination in 1.8 eV Triple-Halide Perovskites for 27.5% Efficient All-Perovskite Tandems
in Advanced Materials
Chen P
(2024)
Multifunctional ytterbium oxide buffer for perovskite solar cells.
in Nature
Description | We have made significant advances with enhancing the performance of wide band gap perovskite solar cells which are required for perovskite thin film tandem solar cells. We have made significant advances in passivation, which will enable much higher efficiency of the single junction and tandem cells in the next phase of the project. We have also made advancements in proving the long term operational stability of both wide band gap and narrow band gap perovskite solar cells. A major breakthrough in stability was published in Science, in 2020. Furthermore, we have increased the synergistic activities between Oxford University and Oxford PV. We have identified many technical bottlenecks in the performance of low band gap perovskites, and are well set to make significant advances over the next period of time. A key step change in capability has been enabled by the ramp up and use of the National Thin Film Cluster Deposition Facility for Advanced Functional Materials, we have started to use this extensively for developing the tandem solar cells and already have highly efficient working tandems. In Addition, we have made a major breakthrough with the very wide gap perovskite and expect to have efficient triple junction cells soon. |
Exploitation Route | After successful completion of key milestones in the project, Oxford PV will take the advanced technology forward to more downstream product development and eventual manufacturing. |
Sectors | Chemicals,Electronics,Energy,Environment,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
Description | There has been a successful transfer of know how from Oxford University to Oxford PV concerning the fabrication of low band gap tin-based perovskite absorber materials and devices. There has been substantial reciprocal transfer of know how of encapsulation methodologies from Oxford PV to the University, upon appropriate encapsulation strategies. There has been significant enhancement in stability and performance of all cell types. The impact has been to bring the "all perovskite" thin film PV technology closer to commercial readiness. |
First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
Sector | Chemicals,Education,Electronics,Energy,Environment,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
Impact Types | Economic |
Description | Oxford PV |
Organisation | Oxford Photovoltaics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We are collaborating closely with Oxford PV on this project and have made many co developments of the scientific advances. |
Collaborator Contribution | Oxford PV have supplied some Silicon PV cells upon which to coat the perovskite cells for the all perovskite tandem cells. They have also deposited ITO conducting oxide upon our cells to complete our devices. In addition they have allowed access to other characterization facilities including optical microscope and x-ray diffraction analysis. They have reproduced our low band gap perovskite solar cell fabrication protocol in their laboratories, and made advancements in the protocol to encapsulate and test the long term stability of such cells. They have finished all perovskite tandem cells which were half made in our university labs and then finished and tested in Oxford PV |
Impact | One of the main outcomes is that Oxford PV has raised in the region of £100M external investment, with the technology based on technology originally conceived in Oxford University. The company has benefited from continuing fundamental advancements of the technology, driven from our University Lab. We are now working closely together on this prosperity partnership project and will collaboratively deliver record efficiency and stability, all perovskite thin film tandem and triple junction solar cells. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | 39 ways to save the planet |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The radio documentaries covered a broad range of ways people are working towards improving sustainability and the environment. One documentary focused on solar cells, largely based on the perovskite PV technology developed by Oxford University and Oxford PV Ltd. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000r3nn |
Description | RE:ENERGIZE Refining Solar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | RE:TV is a showcase for inspiring innovations and ideas that point the way towards a sustainable future, curated by editor-in-chief, His Royal Highness The Prince Of Wales. A series addressing the challenges in Getting to net Zero, featured Prof Snaith and Oxford PV Ltd. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.re-tv.org/reenergize/refining-solar |
Description | The Engineers: Clean Energy |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Three engineers leading the field in clean energy solutions came together for a special event presented by Kevin Fong at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Prof Snaith presented and was on the panel representing Solar PV. In addition, there was a related schools competition, Organised by the Royal Commission for the exhibition of 1851, where the prize for the winning schools amounted to a seminar and questions and answer session with Prof Snaith. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.big-ideas.org/project/the-engineers-royal-commission-for-the-exhibition-of-1851/ |