Solar Cells Get Another Efficiency Boost by Up to 18%

Solar electricity is becoming a very popular form of renewable energy that is being used not just by businesses, but by a large proportion of homeowners too.  And now, with thanks to a perovskite-graphene hybrid that’s been created, the efficiency of solar panels has just jumped up to over 18%. This may not sound like a great deal, but in terms of solar panel efficiency, it is actually the highest to date.

Perovskite solar cells (PSC’s) are quickly emerging as the photovoltaic technology that has the most potential and much time and money is being spent on projects that involve them.  They are commonly being used as they have some very useful properties, such as a broad absorption spectrum in the visible range and an efficient charge transfer.

However, the stability of the cells is still to be confirmed, especially when it comes to the strength of the cell performance. Continued exposure to heat and sunlight will eventually make the cells less efficient.  Recent studies carried out by a group of Italian researchers reviewed the protective properties of grapheme and grapheme oxide and the effect they have on PSC’s.

The results show how this new type of hybrid perovskite solar cell has the ability to achieve power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.2%. In this case, the graphene has two roles.  Firstly, the PCE is reached by using grapheme-doped TiO2 + G and graphene oxide as an interlayer.  Then, by adding graphene flakes to the TiO2 this increases the efficiency even further.  The cells also proved they can still run up to 88% efficiency even after 16 hours of sun exposure.

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