Studying Next Generation Solar Cells: Solving the World’s Energy Crisis

Authors:

• Students:
  • Brianna Bukowski
  • Kevin Cheng
  • Sarah Hadjarab
  • Roman Kapur
  • Ziyin Wang
  • Colin Yao
• Teachers:
  • Katherine Seguino
• Mentors:
  • Volker Rose (Argonne National Laboratory, Advanced Photon Source, Center for Nanoscale Materials)
  • Nozomi Shirato (Argonne National Laboratory, Advanced Photon Source, Center for Nanoscale Materials)
  • Sarah Weighold (Argonne National Laboratory, Center for Nanoscale Materials)

Center for Nanoscale Materials

Perovskite solar cells are an emerging photovoltaic technology that have become more relevant as their efficiencies have increased throughout the years. However, despite the jump in efficiency from about 3% in 2006 to over 25% today, perovskite solar cells still must overcome many challenges before they can be commercially adopted. One of the major issues facing perovskite solar cells is their high instability compared to other photovoltaic technology. Using the XTIP, a beamline dedicated to SX-STM (synchrotron x-ray scanning tunneling microscopy), nanoscale chemical characterization of perovskite solar cells can be revealed, and analysis of the spectra can offer views into voltage-induced charges in the atomic coordination. This information can aid in understanding the degradation and stability of perovskite material at the atomic scale, present possible paths forward to overcoming these challenges, and create more stable cells.

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