A team of researchers from DGIST and KIST has made a groundbreaking discovery that could revolutionize the production of solar cells. Led by Professor Choi Jong-min and Dr. Moon Byung-joon, they have developed a technique to drastically enhance the performance of perovskite solar cells using hydrogen-bonding additives.
Perovskite is a promising material for solar cells due to its high efficiency in converting light to electricity and ease of mass production. However, it has a major drawback: the solution involved in its manufacture gradually decomposes into ions over time, leading to poor performance. This issue can be accelerated by high temperatures.
To address this problem, Professor Choi’s research team introduced a hydrogen-bonding additive into the perovskite solution. This additive protects critical components of solar cells from rapid alteration and maintains their stability over an extended period. In fact, solar cells produced using solutions stored for 140 days retained nearly the same efficiency as those made with freshly prepared solutions.
The additive also minimizes defects within solar cells, further enhancing their performance. As a result, the power conversion efficiency of the solar cell increased from 22.61% to 24.31%. The research team’s experimental results showed that the solar cell demonstrated outstanding stability, retaining over 98% of its initial performance even after exposure to high temperatures.
Professor Choi stated, “This research has shown that the issue of ions being easily damaged in traditional perovskite solution-based process can be addressed by using an additive that harnesses hydrogen bonds.” He believes this additive will play a crucial role in overcoming the thermal instability challenge for commercialization of solar cells.
The study was conducted through collaborative research between Professor Choi and Dr. Moon, led by Yong Tae-young, a doctoral student at DGIST. The research was supported by several institutions and published online on September 13, 2024, in the prestigious international journal Energy & Environmental Science.
Source: https://www.asiaresearchnews.com/content/hydrogen-bonding-additives-have-enhanced-both-performance-and-stability-solar-cells