The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a cost-effective renewable solar technology to harvest sunlight for conversion into electricity. Solar cells directly convert solar energy into renewable and sustainable electricity. Thin film solar cells have advantages such as low cost and high-efficiency compared with the other modules. The proposed technology will investigate applications of more affordable and sustainable thin film solar cells.
This I-Corps project explores translation of a low-cost, carbon-based perovskite solar cell technology to replace the high-cost metal back contact (silver and gold) in the traditional perovskite with an ultralow-cost carbon electrode. The worldwide solar energy market is dominated by the bulk Si module and thin film CdTe solar cells. Both approaches require high energy consumption to produce the Si wafer and vaporized CdTe, generate environmental issues during manufacturing, and require high-cost recycling processes. The proposed low-temperature processing without the need for expensive vacuum deposition may further reduce manufacturing costs, energy consumption, and the need for expensive facilities. The carbon-based perovskite also prevents the generation of the unstable organic hole transport layer in the perovskite solar cells, making it much more stable. The proposed carbon electrode may provide promising hole extraction. This carbon-based perovskite solar cell technology could be printed on the existing traditional solar modules, such as the cadmium telluride and silicon solar module, to provide extra power generation by forming tandem solar cells.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
