Recently, Nature Energy, an international top-ranking journal in the field of energy, publishes the important findings of WUT’s perovskite solar cell research team. The paper is entitled The critical role of composition-dependent intragrain planar defects in the performance of MA_1-xFA_xPbI₃ perovskite solar cells with Li Wei, a researcher from the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology For Materials Synthesis and Processing (WUT), being the first author .

Researches on perovskite solar cells have made great breakthroughs. Compared with traditional silicon solar cells, perovskite solar cells have abundant raw materials, simple preparation process, low production cost, and low energy consumption. Its highest certified efficiency has reached 25.5%, approaching the photoelectric conversion efficiency of monocrystalline silicon solar cell of 26.7%, which has attracted widespread attention from the global photovoltaic industry.

However, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite materials also face the problem of easy migration of constituent ions and poor long-term stability, which have become the main reasons for restricting its large-scale commercial application. After an in-depth research for more than 6 years, the perovskite solar cell research team of WUT has proved experimentally for the first time in the world that the surface defect in organic-inorganic-hybrid perovskite materials plays a vital role in the photoelectric conversion performance of solar cells through ultra-low-dose transmission electron microscopy. The research is vital for establishing the bridge between the microstructure defects of photovoltaic materials and the macroscopic performance of solar cells, which can effectively improve the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells through precise control of the internal defects of perovskite crystals. This will greatly promote the industrial process of perovskite solar cells, help further reduce the cost of power generation from solar cells, and promote China’s early realization of the goal of carbon neutrality.

Li Wei, who studied at the University of New South Wales and Monash University in Australia for PhD and post-doctoral research from 2009 to 2018, joined the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology For Materials Synthesis and Processing of Wuhan University of Technology in September 2018. In 2021, he was selected as the member of National High-level Talents (Youth Project). His main research focuses are the mechanism of the microstructure defects of new optoelectronic materials on the performance of the device and the industrialization technology of perovskite solar cells and perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells.

Written by: Xiong Yuanlu

Rewritten by: Ma Yan

Edited by: Luo Xiaohan, Li Tiantian

Source: Institute of New Materials