In the course of the continuous evolution of photovoltaic technology, chalcogenide solar cells, as a representative of the third generation of photovoltaic technology, have become the focus of attention in the field of scientific research and industry for their unique advantages and great potential. Recently, the research group led by Prof. Yuan Mingjian in the School of Chemistry of Nankai University has made a major breakthrough in the research of chalcogenide solar cells, which has injected new vitality into the development of this field.
Unique advantages of chalcogenide solar cells
Chalcogenide is a class of materials with a unique crystal structure, which has a wide range of applications in new solar cells and other semiconductor devices. The reason why chalcogenide solar cells have attracted so much attention is mainly due to the following significant advantages:
1. Flexibility and compatibility:Chalcocite material has good flexibility, can be prepared into flexible batteries, which provides the possibility of its application in some special application scenarios, such as wearable devices, flexible electronic products and other fields, greatly expanding the scope of application of photovoltaic technology.
2. Large-area preparation potential: Compared with the traditional silicon-based solar cells, chalcogenide solar cells have obvious advantages in large-area preparation, through solution processing and other low-cost preparation methods, to achieve large-area battery production, which is important for reducing the cost of the photovoltaic industry, and to promote the large-scale application of photovoltaic technology.
3. High theoretical conversion efficiency: Theoretically speaking, chalcogenide solar cells have high photovoltaic conversion efficiency, and their theoretical limit efficiency is comparable to that of traditional silicon-based solar cells. With the continuous deepening of the research, the actual conversion efficiency of chalcogenide solar cells is also improving, showing great potential for development.
The challenge of chalcogenide solar cells
Despite the many advantages of chalcogenide solar cells, but before its large-scale commercial application, it still faces a number of key issues that need to be resolved, in which the stability problem is particularly prominent:
1. Poor high-temperature stability: As the light-absorbing layer of the battery, the stability of the chalcogenide material is significantly affected by external environmental factors. In the preparation of high-performance chalcogenide solar cells, it is often necessary to rely on volatile organic amine salt additives to stabilize the physical phase and regulate crystallization. However, this additive is very easy to decompose at high temperatures, triggering an imbalance in the chemical composition of the calcite film, which significantly reduces the stability of the battery in high temperature operation, which has become one of the main bottlenecks limiting its large-scale commercial application.
2. Insufficient long-term stability: In addition to high-temperature stability, chalcogenide solar cells in the long-term use of the process, but also faced with material aging, light attenuation and other factors leading to performance degradation, which also affects the feasibility and reliability of its commercial applications to a certain extent.
Latest research breakthroughs and achievements
Aiming at the problem of poor operational stability of chalcogenide solar cells under high-temperature operating conditions, Prof. Yuan Mingjian of the School of Chemistry, Nankai University, led the research group to carry out high-level international cooperative research, and achieved remarkable results:
1. Development of a new preparation strategy: The research team combined with theoretical predictions and successfully developed a preparation strategy for alloy chalcogenide with higher thermal stability. This strategy completely solves the problem of inhomogeneity of the cesium methamidic component of chalcogenide films, and fundamentally improves the stability of chalcogenide materials.
2. Combination of high efficiency and high stability: Chalcogenide solar cell devices prepared by this strategy have demonstrated world-class energy conversion efficiency and high-temperature stability. This achievement not only lays a solid technical foundation for the stability improvement of chalcogenide solar cells, but also opens up a broad prospect for the further practicalization and commercialization of photovoltaic technology.
3. Publication and significance of the results: On the evening of September 30, Nature published the research results under the title of “Cesium amidine component of chalcogenide solar cells with high thermal stability”. This research is of far-reaching significance for promoting the green transformation of the global energy structure and marks a major breakthrough in the new generation of photovoltaic technology.
Future development prospects
With the achievement of this research result, the prospect of the development of the calcite solar cell has become brighter. At present, the research team is actively promoting the research and development of high-performance chalcogenide solar cell modules in line with the needs of industrialization through the cooperation between schools and enterprises, in an effort to promote the practical application of the research results as soon as possible and the industrialization of the landing.
1. Accelerated industrialization: This breakthrough will greatly accelerate the industrialization of chalcogenide solar cells, which is expected to achieve large-scale commercial production and application in the next few years, and provide more efficient, low-cost clean energy solutions for the global energy market.
2. Application expansion: With the continuous improvement of the performance of the solar cells and the further reduction of the cost of chalcogenide solar cells, its application areas will be further expanded. In addition to the traditional photovoltaic power plants, distributed power generation and other fields, but also in the integration of buildings, mobile energy, Internet of Things and other emerging areas play an important role.
3. Promote the change of energy structure: As a clean, renewable energy technology, the wide application of calcite solar cells will help to promote the green transformation of the global energy structure, reduce the dependence on traditional fossil energy, reduce carbon emissions, and make a positive contribution to the fight against global climate change.
In conclusion, as a representative of the new generation of photovoltaic technology, although facing some challenges, but with the continuous efforts of researchers and technology innovation, its development prospects are very broad. It is believed that in the near future, chalcogenide solar cells will shine in the field of energy, and provide strong power support for the sustainable development of human society.
