Developing Air Processable Perovskite Solar Cells Compatible for African Laboratories

Cooperating countries: Ethiopia and Austria

Coordinating institution: Johannes Kepler University (JKU), Linz Institute for Organic Solar Cells, Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci, Serdar.sariciftci@jku.at 

Partner institution: Addis Ababa Science and Technology University (AASTU), Bahir Dar University (BDU)

Project duration: 1 May 2022 - 30 April 2024

Budget: EUR 30.000

Abstract:

Access to affordable, clean and sustainable energy drives social equity and economic growth by improving standards of living and industrial productivity. The evergreen renewable energy from the sun which is abundant, geopolitically free and consistent requires low cost, efficient and stable devices to convert it to electricity. It is strategically planned to solve the foreseeable world’s energy crisis particularly to improve the life style in rural Africa for electrifying homes, schools, and clinics, water pumping and cleaning. Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite (HOIP) solar cells have shown progress as low-cost, solution printable devices with superior optoelectronic properties and a big leap in efficiency since 2009. However, due to their poor stability in ambient air condition, this technology has still unresolved issues for large scale production and commercialization. The research community has not yet come up with a high-performance air stable HOIP solar cell, primarily due to poor crystallinity and hydrophilic nature of the components. Today’s high efficiency HOIP solar cells demand the state-of-the-art modern laboratories with high tech research facilities such as inert atmosphere glovebox systems. It is very rare to see such labs in Africa due to the high cost of the equipment’s, systems installation and operation and this need to be solved strategically through other alternatives. This project will develop air-stable perovskite solar cells which can be processed in ordinary African laboratories by incorporating passivators and additives with dispersion processed top contact finish. Success in this project will result in development of high efficiency and stable prototype perovskite solar cell at ambient environment condition.
 

Summary:

Predictions in electrification indicate that electricity demand in Sub-Saharan Africa like Ethiopia is expected to grow by fourfold by 2040. Indeed, solar energy is the most abundant to deploy off-grid technology in areas that are challenging for on-grid systems. Silicon-based solar cells (SCs) are currently the dominant photovoltaic technology with high power conversion efficiency and excellent long-term stability. However, solar cell devices made of silicon suffer from high manufacturing costs, non-flexibility, and heavy weight. 

New and very promising materials and technologies are emerging, among which hybrid organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are considered to be the most promising next-generation devices, with an exponential increase in power conversion efficiency of 27 %. However, there are still unresolved issues, such as device stability and expensive inert environment-based fabrication of highly efficient devices at the moment.

The major research directions in this field are looking for strategies to improve the stability of the photoactive layer of perovskite solar cells while keeping their high efficiency and optimizing their fabrication in ambient environmental conditions. The overall goal of the project was to look for solutions to the stability issues, to optimize and engineer the device processing methodology in order to manufacture perovskite solar cells in ambient environmental conditions compatible with most African laboratory conditions. As part of the social science study, a well-structured expert interview and observation was conducted in both Ethiopian and European scenarios on how to do technology transfer in the field and introduce innovative fabrication approaches. The impact of the project on achieving the expected sustainable development goals was also analysed. 

Therefore, the main focus of this project included 

• Investigation of the characteristics of photoactive layer (perovskite) surface and interface
• Passivation of the perovskite layer to avoid the ingress of water (moisture) and oxygen, and avoid ion migration from the active layer using additives via the formation of acidbase adducts with the perovskite layers without compromising the charge transport.
• Molecular functionalization/engineering of the perovskite-charge transport layers interfaces for prolonged durability better charge transport capacity and air stability of the entire system.
• Optimizing the perovskite solar cell processing in an ambient environment
• Conducting a structured expert interview to assess the impact of the project in achieving the sustainable development goals, its role in technology transfer, socioeconomic contribution and inducing innovative approaches among the students, experts and the participating institutions in general. 

All planned activities and deliverables were achieved successfully. The project finance has been used as per the plan and the regulation of OeaD.