Rice University creates solar seeds to grow 2D perovskite crystals

Microscopic solar seeds for growing uniform 2D perovskite crystals have been developed by researchers from the US-based William Marsh Rice University. According to the researchers, the latest discovery is both stable and efficient at harvesting solar energy. The team assured that the seeded growth method addresses both performance and production issues that have held back halide perovskite photovoltaic (PV) technology. The research was published online on the Advanced Materials research portal. The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the Department of Energy (DOE), the Academic Institute of France, and the Office of Naval Research all contributed to the study. DOE facilities at Argonne and Brookhaven National Laboratories were used in the research. Chemical engineers from George R Brown School of Engineering of Rice described how to make the seeds and use them to grow homogeneous thin films, which are highly sought-after materials with uniformly thick layers. Homogeneous films are expected to lead to optoelectronic devices with high efficiency and technologically relevant stability, according to Aditya Mohite, a study co-author and associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, materials science and nanoengineering at Rice. Mohite revealed that Siraj Sidhik, a PhD student in his lab, came up with the idea for seeded growth. Scientists affirmed that seed-grown, high-efficiency PV films are stable, retaining more than 97% of their peak efficiency after 800 hours of illumination without any thermal management. Seeds are made by slowly growing a uniform 2D crystal and grinding it into a powder, which is dissolved into solvent instead of the individual precursors in the seeded growth method. The seeded solution, on the other hand, produces films with a homogeneous, uniform surface, similar to that of the seeded material. Marciel said that they were able to crack nucleation and growth in their group using light scattering techniques that they typically use to measure the sizes of polymers in solution. Under certain conditions, the dynamic light scattering tool revealed that solutions reached an equilibrium state, allowing some seeds to remain undissolved in solution and eventually produce homogeneous thin films. Image Source Also read: Rajasthan Electronics invites bids for 200,000 multi-crystalline solar cells Also read: KELTRON invites bids to supply multi-crystalline solar modules