Alternative Solar Cells Ramp up Efficiency and Stability

Solar cells are formed of light-absorbing materials that convert sunlight into electricity. The panels we are used to seeing covering fields or roofs of houses are made primarily from silicon.

However, silicon panels are energy-intensive to produce, heavy and inflexible. Research groups around the world are working on alternatives based on flexible ‘organic’ materials – plastics – that can be printed from inks. This research could lead to transparent solar modules in windows, as well as large scale electricity-generators or even integration into clothing.

Organic solar materials offer a lot of promise, but there are still challenges to overcome before they can compete with silicon panels. For example, solar cells made from organic ‘perovskite’ materials have poor stability – the cells often break down in sunlight in a matter of hours – and include toxic elements like lead.

PhD student Andrew Wadsworth, from the Department of Chemistry at Imperial, is part of a team developing organic solar cells. Hayley Dunning talked to him about how they are tackling the obstacles and improving device performance.

Read the STRN story - “Alternative Solar Cells Ramp up Efficiency and Stability.”