Perovskite solar cell prototype. Credit: Alain Herzog / EPFL
Incorporating guanidinium into perovskite solar cells stabilizes their efficiency at 19% for 1000 hours under full-sunlight testing conditions. With the power-conversion efficiency of silicon solar cells plateauing around 25%, perovskites are now ideally placed to become the market's next generation of photovoltaics. In particular, organic-inorganic lead halide perovskites offer manufacturing versatility that can potentially translate into much higher efficiency: studies have already shown photovoltaic performances above 20% across different solar cell architectures built with simple and low-cost processes. The main challenge for the perovskite field is not so much efficiency but stability. Unlike silicon cells, perovskites are soft crystalline materials and prone to problems due to decomposition over time. In a commercial context, this puts perovskites on a higher price tag than conventional silicon cells. There have therefore been many efforts in synthesizing perovskite materials that can maintain high efficiency over time.
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