Free-standing nano paper-based 2D-MXENE-perovskite semi-transparent solar cell and their charge carrier dynamics

Speaker: Dr. Sanjay Sahare
Affiliation: Faculty of Physics, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznań, Poland

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Energy generation is an imperative and essential research field with deep social and cultural relevance. Inexhaustible solar energy provides reliable and affordable energy to expand electricity access and promote global development. The Sun is a source of clean energy and every day it gives off far more energy than we need to power everything on earth. Energy production using sunlight is a big challenge that promises freedom from the sources, which cause global warming and climate change. In a smaller span, the power performance of perovskite solar cell (PSC) has crossed 25% and is competing with existing solar cells based on the Si, GaAs, and CIGS. Despite the excellent efficiency of PSC, stability and scaling are the major hurdles that must be addressed for commercialization. Already many efforts have been made in PSCs to design and modify them to become more efficient and stable.

Till now, the most efficient solar cells use Lead (Pb) based perovskites, though there exist a few concerns like toxicity and water solubility of Pb, responsible for water pollution. In general, all solar cell uses visible light but does not utilize UV and IR light properly from the solar spectrum to produce electricity. Interestingly, IR light strikes more intensely on the Earth’s surface, which can be utilized to generate electricity, intriguing a semi-transparent/transparent solar cell (STPSC). The majority of the existing STPSCs are fabricated on expensive ITO/FTO glass substrates, leading to an increase in their thickness, weight, and cost. Consequently, these substrates are not suitable for printing technology, which is replaced with easily recyclable flexible materials to overcome these issues. The solution-processing approach can easily pave the way to employ in any desired flexible form such as on transparent windows, and in space where the ultra-lightweight solar cell is highly anticipated. Device engineering plays a crucial role in the device’s performance and stability, which can be tuned by employing different transport layers at heterojunction interfaces. The 2D materials have shown their potential as a charge transport layer and may help to understand obstacles and overcome the available challenges in STPSCs. Therefore, we have proposed a thorough investigation of different transparent heterojunctions which are utilized in the construction of complete solar cell configurations based on a free-standing nanocellulose-based. We will use an ultra-lightweight, flexible, and bio-degradable substrate to meet the printing technology standards. In addition, lead-free (non-toxic) perovskite synthesis and further device engineering by utilizing novel 2D materials can improve the overall performance, stability, and transparency of the PSCs. These developments require multiple optimization processes at transparent heterojunctions, which can provide an assurance to achieve a minimum of 30 kW/kg of specific power. In other words, the device can produce maximum power from the negligible weight substrate.