An international research team has developed a method for synthesizing and stabilizing conducting colloidal quantum spout -inkens in an economic way and stabilizing for sun applications. When they are used to make quantum spot films in PV devices with large areas, they made a certified efficiency of 10% possible, with laboratory cells based on the ink material that achieved 13.40% efficiency.
An international research team from China, Germany, Japan and the United States has found a method to synthesize and stabilize guiding colloidal quantum dip (CQD) economically. The material was used to make Quantum DOT films in PV devices with a large area of 12.60 cm2 with a certified efficiency of 10%, whereby cells the size of laboratory achieved efficiency of 13.40%.
CQD technology has been presented in the past as a potentially cheap, very efficient thin film alternative to traditional silicon PV, but synthesis processes with low yields, uncontrollability, instability of material and relatively high costs have blocked the progress.
“Our project successfully reaches both cheap processes and CQD film prints with large parts, which effectively bridges the gap between high costs and the viability of commercialization,” said the corresponding author, Zeke Liu, PV Magazine. “The new aspects of our research are in the integration of the most advanced, cost-effective CQD synthesis technique: the direct synthesis (DS) of conductor CQD inks with a Solution Chemistry Engineering (SCE) strategy for the improvement of ink stability.”
Note that the approach ionic configurations and surface structure optimizes, “significantly” minimizing irreversible CQD aggregation and merger, said Liu, said Liu: “These innovations make printing one step of high-quality, grand cqd films for a fraction of the costs of a commercial scale.”
The researchers identified an “intrinsic correlation” between irreversible quantum dotgregation, morphological evolution on nano scale and resulting morphological defects and the “decisive role” in the performance of great films. In the experiments that dispersions tested in various solvents, the scientists described to create an “iodine -rich environment in weakly coordinating solvents” and the converting of “iodoplumbings into functional anions, who condensate in a robust surface bowl” to deliver stable inks.
Subsequently, the solution chemical-designed (SCE) approach for CQD films was validated in both large-scale CQD-Sonne devices and lab scale devices. “We have achieved a certified power conversion efficiency (PCE) of more than 10% for modules with large area and 13.40% for cells with a small area, which determined new benchmarks and the material costs reduced to less than $ 0.06/wp,” Liu said. The certification of the CQD sun cells was carried out by the National Center of Inspection on Solar Photovoltaic Products Quality (CPVT).
The validation was in solar cells with a pile with a CQD matrix sandwiched between meaning oxide (ZNO) nanocrystals and a P-type polymer material (PBDB-T). Slot that coating was used for film deposits, except the Indiumtinoxide (ITO) on the glass substrate and the silver (AG) anode steps. Standard stability tests in ambient air revealed that the PV devices based on SCE inks had a maximum of 50 days of operational stability.
When demanding future research activity, LIU said that researchers will strive to scale the CQD inkes, improve the efficiency of the CQD sun cells and broaden their applications. “We will adjust the technology for different quantum spots, including variants with low toxicity, and for use in flexible electronics,” Liu said.
Other topics such as the CQD potential for near-infrared detectors and short-wave infrared (SWIR) sensors will also be investigated, according to LiU that sees the potential for use in artificial intelligence (AI) applications, such as autonomous vehicles and industrial automation.
The new solution was presented in the newspaper “Overcoming efficiency and cost barriers for the large area of quantum dot photovoltaïschens via stable inkineering“Published in Natural energy.
The research team had members of Chinese Soochow University, Shenzhen Technology University (SZTU), South China University of Technology, Yunnan University, as well as the Japanese University of Tokyo and University of Electro Communications, Hitachi Hightech Corporation. It also included academics from the Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Germany Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for renewable energyTechnical University of Munich and Northern Illinois University, Argonne National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the US.
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