#perovskite

Researchers at the University of Oxford have just reached a major milestone that could redefine our domestic energy sources. By integrating photovoltaic technology into our windows, they open the doors to a daily and widespread use of solar energy.

At the heart of this innovation is perovskite, a synthetic material known for its ability to efficiently capture light. Unlike traditional silicon solar panels, these perovskite cells are distinguished by their incredibly thin thickness, a feature that facilitates their application on various surfaces.

An old favorite goes up against our first elemental mineral of the year!

https://www.mineralcup.org/2024/vote/r1m03

PEROVSKITE

This previous finalist is rare in pop culture but a heavyweight in geology (and not just because it makes up Earth's deepest mantle).

Name: After some guy.

Bling: Delightfully cubic!

Uses: Members of the perovskite family can make very efficient, flexible solar panels.

Team Lick? Some are toxic, and classic perovskite (calcium titanate) powder can cause skin and respiratory irritation. I'd hold off.

Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0

Kttimliu. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

COPPER

One of the only non-silver metals, copper boasts a long and storied history with humanity.

Name: After Cyprus, the Romans' principal source of copper.

Bling: From unique red-orange sheen to distinctive green oxidation, elemental copper shines aesthetically! And if you like the appearance of competitor turquoise, you have copper to thank.

Uses: We've been using copper for at least 10,000 years! Nowadays we use copper in electronics, buildings, and many useful alloys and salts.

Team Lick! Not only safe to lick with a delicious bloody taste, humans need copper as a trace mineral in our diet.

James St. John. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Imagine creating solar panels without relying on materials in short supply and adopting an eco-friendlier production process. And at the same time boosting efficiency? Enter perovskite tandem solar cells—an innovation that has long held the promise of revolutionizing the solar energy landscape. But where are they in their development, and could they truly represent the future of solar panel technology?

#planeta #perovskite #solarenergy

Credits:

Reporter: Kai Steinecke

Camera and video editor: Neven Hillebrands

Superivising Editors: Joanna Gottschalk, Kiyo Dörrer

Thanks go to Frank Nowroth (Oxford PV) who gave insights into commercial-scale deployment of tandem solar cells and to Sum Tze Chien (NTU Singapore) for additional background on tandem solar cells encapsulation.

Read more:

Efficiencies Silicon Solar Cells https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...,

https://www.nrel.gov/pv/assets/pdfs/b...

Eurpoe’s PEPPERONI project https://pepperoni-project.eu/

Outdoor performance test perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

Degradation Silicon Solar Cells https://www.nrel.gov/state-local-trib..., https://www.nature.com/articles/s4159...

Cost Declination Solar Energy

https://mc-cd8320d4-36a1-40ac-83cc-33...

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:28 What is Perovskite?

03:30 Perovskite Solar Cell

06:15 Perovskite’s Challenges

09:11 Economical Problems

Australian researchers show next gen solar cells can beat the heat

Good News Notes: “Australian researchers have demonstrated that new solar panel designs and manufacturing techniques have the potential to solve some of the key challenges of operating in high temperatures, showing that they not only produce more useful electricity but have longer operational lives thanks to their ability to beat the heat. In new research published in the journal Progress in…

Catching Rays

X-rays painlessly zip through flesh and tissue, revealing fractures or cracks in bones in the patterns left on a detector. While they’ve revolutionised modern medicine, X-rays also carry risks – frequent exposure to high 'doses' may cause disease. So radiographers are on the lookout for ways to reduce our exposure to X-rays. Bringing together several novel technologies, here a new 3D printing technique sprays an aerosol mixture of perovskite, a mineral which helps to catch X-rays, into a pattern of pillars studded onto a supporting layer of graphene. The tiny bed of sensitive squares forms a cheap and highly-sensitive X-ray detector, each contributing pixels to a computer image with 1000 times lower doses of X-rays than often used today. This new device also requires less expensive machinery, potentially promising safer medical imaging available across the world.

Written by John Ankers

Image by L. Forró, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Laboratory of Physics of Complex Matter (LPMC), EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland

Image copyright held by the original authors

Research published in ACS Nano, February 2021