TEHRAN, August 29 -Scientists have developed new chemical engineering techniques for producing high-performing solar cell materials.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) -Scientists have developed new chemical engineering techniques for producing high-performing solar cell materials.
The recipe for perovskites is seemingly foolproof. Combine the three main ingredients -- lead, iodide and methylammonium -- any number of ways, and you get the same basic material.
However, slight tweaks at various stages of the perovskite production process can alter the material's qualities. Now, scientists have found a way to make perovskites with qualities ideal for the material's use in solar cells.
"Our study builds on work by other groups of researchers at Oxford, Cornell and Stanford that showed using chlorine in the processing can lead to high-quality perovskite films with impressive performance," Aryeh Gold-Parker, PhD student in Stanford University's chemistry department, said in a news release.
The perovskite production process begins by dissolving the basic ingredients in a solvent. The solution is deposited and dried, creating a film. The initial crystalized film is known as the precursor. Finally, the film is heated and cooled, reorganizing the film's structure and yielding a perovskite.
A perovskite is any material that takes on same cubic structure of the eponymous mineral. Perovskite, the calcium titanium oxide mineral, was first discovered in Russia's Ural Mountains by Gustav Rose in 1839. Rose named the mineral after Russian mineralogist Lev Perovski.
Though the basic recipe and ingredients are simple, slight chemical manipulations at each stage of the production process can alter the material's physical properties.
"There are dozens of different methods for depositing perovskite films, for example," Gold-Parker said. "And these methods lead to differences in thickness, texture, grain size and crystallinity of the films."
During previous experiments, scientists realized large amounts of chlorine are lost as the film crystalizes and is transformed into a perovskite.
"In this latest study we wanted to know: Where does the chlorine go and what purpose does it serve? Why chlorine in the first place?" said Kevin Stone, staff scientist at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource. "What does the precursor consist of, and how is it influencing this transformation?"
Source:UPI
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