The New Solar Cell
Now this is about a story stating about the success of a new invention - a cheap energy efficient solar cell.
Olga Malinkiewicz, a PhD student studying photovoltaics at the University of Valencia in Spain, first heard about perovskites, the latest hope for low-cost solar power, in April last year. Unlike the slabs of purified silicon at the heart of the solar cells that currently dominate the market, perovskites form thin films that are easily made in the lab by mixing together cheap salts.
Large, commercial silicon modules convert 17–25% of solar radiation into electricity, and much smaller perovskite cells have already reached a widely reproduced rate of 16–18% in the lab occasionally spiking higher. They are expected to top 20% in a few months.The combination of low cost and efficiency means that perovskite cells could, in theory, make solar power which currently provides less than 1% of the world’s electricity cheaper to generate than fossil-fuel energy.
The cells, composed of perovskite film sandwiched between conducting layers, are still about the size of postage stamps. To be practical, they must be scaled up, which causes efficiency to drop. It achieved 12% efficiency with 10 small cells wired together.
Doubts remain over whether the materials can survive for years when exposed to conditions outside the lab, such as humidity, temperature fluctuations and ultraviolet light. Researchers have also reported that ions inside some perovskite structures might shift positions in response to cycles of light and dark, potentially degrading performance.
What is perovskite ?
Perovskite is a calcium titanium oxide mineral composed of calcium titanate, with the chemical formulaCaTiO3. The mineral was discovered in the Ural Mountains of Russia by Gustav Rose in 1839 and is named after Russian mineralogist Lev Perovski
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