Ultrathin protective ALD layer brings more stability to perovskite solar cell

TU Eindhoven reports: The addition of a few nanometers of a thin layer of aluminum oxide protects a perovskite solar cell against humidity – still a major stumbling block to the commercial application of this new type of solar cell. A surprising bonus is a yield boost of 3 percent. These are the findings of researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology and research institute ECN, part of the Solliance collective, published today in the journal Energy and Environmental Science.

Hoe, perovskiet? Jawel, zonnecellen van dit kristal zijn veelbelovend. En nu hebben ze weer een nadeel minder... https://t.co/eQiOdDvHlR

— TU Eindhoven (@TUeindhoven) December 6, 2016

Solar cells made from perovskite have undergone rapid development in recent years. Perovskite is a mineral that has the same crystal structure as calcium-titanium-oxide (CaTiO₃). The yield of this type of solar cell has risen to 22% in just a few years. A drawback for the moment, though, is the damaging effect of humidity: water vapor from the atmosphere reacts with the perovskite crystals causing a considerable reduction in the yield over time. This instability is a stumbling block to successful commercialization.

“Although Al₂O₃ has electrically insulating properties, it can still be used as a buffer layer between the semi-conductive perovskite and the conductive contacts by limiting the thickness of the layer to one nanometer or less,” says FOM PhD student and first author Dibyashree Koushik (TU/e group Plasma and Materials Processing). 

Full story at TU Eindhoven : LINK

High-Efficiency Humidity-Stable Planar Perovskite Solar Cells Based On Atomic Layer Architecture

D. Koushik, W.J.H. Verhees, Y. Kuang, S. Veenstra, D. Zhang, M.A. Verheijen, M. Creatore, and R.E.I. Schropp, Energy and Environmental Science (5 december 2016). The study was co-funded by the FOM Foundation