Surrey team replaces lead with tin in perovskite solar cells
Solar cells contains 50 percent less lead
Researchers at the University of Surrey, UK, believe their tin based perovskite solar cell could clear the runway for solar panel technology to take off and help the UK reach its 2050 carbon neutral goal.
In a study published by the Journal of Materials Chemistry C, researchers from Surrey's Advanced Technology Institute (ATI) detail how they have produced a solar cell which contains 50 percent less lead by replacing it with the more innocuous tin.
By fine tuning their tin solar cell, researchers were able to create a product that can absorb infrared light in a similar manner as silicon cells. Researchers also found that by stacking lead-only cells with the ones mixed with tin produced power conversion results that outperform those of silicon-only power cells.
Indrachapa Bandara, lead author of the study and PhD student at ATI, said: "Our study has shown that tin based perovskite solar cells have an incredible amount of potential."
Director of the ATI at the University of Surrey and corresponding author Ravi Silva said: "Tin-based perovskite photovoltaics is an upcoming technology that promises major improvements to environmentally friendly and efficient solar panels at a low cost. Our new findings point researchers in the field to gaining higher efficiencies while reducing the toxic impact of the absorber materials."
'Complete Solvent Extraction of Sn4+ Enabling High Performing Tin Based Perovskite Solar Cells with High Charge Carrier Mobilities' by RI Bandara et al; Journal of Materials Chemistry C https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.40441
