The Future of Solar Cells: Current Advances in Photovoltaic Materials

As the need for sustainable energy increases globally, photovoltaic (PV) technologies have also
developed at an ever-increasing rate [1]. In certain nations, the least expensive power source for
newly constructed power stations has become solar based. The most common type of solar cell
found in commercial applications are the conventional wafer-based silicon solar cells, which can be
attributed to its low cost – estimated by Ibn-Mohammed et al [2] to be £3 per unit. Low
manufacturing costs aside, wafer-based silicon solar cells are theoretically not the most energy
efficient type of solar cell. Recent growths in the PV field have demonstrated a variety of novel PV
technologies with higher energy efficiency [1]. However, despite the potential that novel PV
materials such as perovskite solar cells have demonstrated, much of these technologies remain
without major commercial applications. In PV technology, the timing between discovery of novel
materials and their uptake in commercially viable quantities takes an average of 25-35 years. This
difficulty in uptake and scaling up of novel materials can be attributed to several major factors:
manufacturing cost, solar cell lifetime, and energy efficiency. Recent advances in perovskite solar cell
(PSC) and organic solar cell (OSC) technologies have improved their performance in aforementioned
factors, thereby increasing their potentials in commercial application.

Perovskite solar cells are based off the structure of the mineral perovskite, which exhibits an ABX 3
crystal structure (where A and B are cations and X is an anion). These materials exhibit an advantage
over conventional solar cells due to the lower losses during the recombination of electron-hole pairs
on solar cell surfaces when excited by an electron, thereby allowing more energy to be extracted [2].
PSCs also differ from conventional solar cells in that they are thin-film solar cells. Instead of wafer-
based structures, thin-film solar cells are produced by coating a substrate (typically a metal oxide)
with a material that exhibits high light absorbance (in this case perovskite). Halide based perovskites
excel at this application due to their high optical absorbance, which minimises the distances that
photocarriers in PSCs must travel and hence reduces energy loss [3]. A layer of perovskite under
330nm of thickness can achieve an efficiency of over 15%. Unique grain boundaries in halide
perovskites also allow the material to exhibit properties similar to a single-crystal structure, avoiding
the presence of gap states, which are present in all conventional thin-film solar cells as they utilise a
multi-crystalline structure. In addition to this, PSCs also exhibit a higher maximum obtainable power
(known as fill factor) than other PV technologies, reaching up to 84% in certain perovskite structures
that minimise charge transport losses [4]. In terms of manufacturing, PSCs are like other thin-film
solar cells and can be manufactured through solution processing, allowing a simpler and cheaper
manufacturing process than conventional wafer-based solar cells [2]. However, while PSCs are less
hazardous to produce than other thin film coated solar cells such as cadmium telluride which relies
on the use of highly toxic cadmium, significant perovskite structures remain reliant on the usage of
lead, which can cause significant hazards during the manufacturing process. Lead (II) halides are a
major environmental toxin. There also remains concerns regarding the longevity of PSCs due to
environment-induced degradation

Organic solar cells differ from conventional solar cells in that they utilise an organic semiconductor
thin film coating, which allows OSCs to possess qualities that are not commonly found in
conventional solar cells such as semitransparency and flexibility [5]. The semiconductor coating is
usually made from small molecules or polymers. Though organic semiconductors can only generate
minimal amounts of power in isolation, the combination of two organic semiconductors – one with
an electron donating character and the other with electron accepting character – greatly increases
the efficiency of OSCs [6]. Efficiency can reach up to 10% with single-cell geometries in OSCs. As OSCs
are also thin-film solar cells, solution processing is also a viable manufacturing method, allowing for
lower costs. [2]. The primary problem encountered by OSCs is that they are prone to environmental
degradation in outdoors environments [7]. Exposure to environmental factors such as thermal
factors, air, and moisture can all cause stresses within OSCs, reducing its performance and lifespan,
while light and water can induce reactions in the active coated layer of OSCs, causing further lifespan
issues. As such, OSCs suffer a sharp drop in performance during its initial period of use known as the
“burn-in”, upon which it loses 20% of its efficiency exponentially. Linear degradation follows this
process. The proper encapsulation and preparation of OSCs can help reduce the speed of linear
degradation, allowing a lifespan of up to two years.

Though emerging PV technologies such as PSCs and OSCs remain largely experimental,
improvements to their cost, efficiency and manufacturing processes show promise that these
materials may become increasingly commercially viable in the near future.

References

[1] D. P. Tabor, L. M. Roch, S. K. Saikin, C. Kreisbeck, D. Sheberla and J. H. Montoya, "Accelerating

the discovery of materials for clean energy in the era of smart automation," Nature Reviews
Materials, pp. 5-20, May 2018.

[2] T. Ibn-Mohammed, S. C. L. Koh, I. M. Reaney, A. Acquaye, Shileo, G., K. B. Mustapha and R.

Greenough, "Perovskite solar cells: An integrated hybrid lifecycle assessment and review in
comparison with other photovoltaic technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,
pp. 1321-1344, December 2017.

[3] W.-J. Yin, T. Shi and Y. Yan, "Unique Properties of Halide Perovskites as Possible Origins of the
Superior Solar Cell Performance," Advanced Materials, pp. 4653-4658, 16 July 2014.

[4] M. Stolterfoht, C. M. Wolff, Y. Amir, A. Paulke, L. Perdigón-Toro, P. Caprioglio and D. Neher,

"Approaching the fill factor Shockley–Queisser limit in stable, dopant-free triple cation
perovskite solar cells," Energy & Environmental Science, pp. 1530-1539, October 2017.

[5] C. J. Brabec, "Organic photovoltaics: technology and market," Solar Energy Materials and Solar
Cells, pp. 273-292, 15 June 2004.

[6] B. Kippelen and J.-L. Brédas, "Organic photovoltaics," Energy & Environmental Science, p. 241–
332, March 2009.

[7] I. D. W. Samuel, D. G. Lidzey, T. Wang and Y. Zhang, "Current Status of Outdoor Lifetime Testing
of Organic Photovoltaics," Advaned Science, pp. 1-17, May 2018.