Discovery Could Dramatically Boost Efficiency of Perovskite Solar Cells

Scientists from the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have discovered a possible secret to dramatically boosting the efficiency of perovskite solar cells hidden in the nanoscale peaks and valleys of the crystalline material. Solar cells made from compounds that have the crystal structure of the mineral perovskite have captured scientists' imaginations. They're inexpensive and easy to fabricate, like organic solar cells. Even more intriguing, the efficiency at which perovskite solar cells convert photons to electricity has increased more rapidly than any other material to date, starting at three percent in 2009-when researchers first began exploring the material's photovoltaic capabilities-to 22 percent today. This is in the ballpark of the efficiency of silicon solar cells. Now, as reported online July 4 in the journal Nature Energy , a team of scientists from the Molecular Foundry and the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, both at Berkeley Lab, found a surprising characteristic of a perovskite solar cell that could be exploited for even higher efficiencies, possibly up to 31 percent. This atomic force microscopy image of the grainy surface of a perovskite solar cell reveals a new path to much greater efficiency.