| NSF Org: |
ECCS Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 1, 2015 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 1, 2015 |
| Award Number: | 1509955 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Paul Lane
plane@nsf.gov (703)292-2453 ECCS Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems ENG Directorate for Engineering |
| Start Date: | August 1, 2015 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $449,819.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $449,819.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
10889 WILSHIRE BLVD STE 700 LOS ANGELES CA US 90024-4200 (310)794-0102 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
570 Westwood Plaza, Bldg 114 Los Angeles CA US 90095-7227 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC, EPMD-ElectrnPhoton&MagnDevices, ELECTRONIC/PHOTONIC MATERIALS |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT
Abstract
Non-Technical: The sun provides clean and abundant energy source for human being, but solar energy has not been widely used due to the high cost. The key to achieving affordable solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies is to develop techniques that offer both high performance and low material and processing costs. This research will combine the strength of two types of high performance thin film solar cell technologies - copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar cells and organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells to realize tandem solar cells and address key issue. The research will significantly enhance the thin film solar cell efficiency from 20% to 30% and still keep low cost. The proposed research represents a new front in solar cell research society. It will impact national and global efforts in developing new and sustainable energy strategies and technologies, thus impacting the nation's economy and improving environmental quality by reducing the use of fossil fuels. The education component of in this project offers students (from high school to graduate-level) the opportunity to experience all of these trainings and learn the skills to face future scientific challenges. This project also provides a platform for undergraduate training and showcases the importance of renewable energy to society.
Technical: The objective of this research is to advance solution processed perovskite/CIGS tandem solar cell technology by reducing thermalization losses of hot carriers generated by photons with larger energies than the bandgap, toward high performance (a target efficiency of 30%). The approach is to design and synthesize both perovskite and CIGS subcells with high performances and spectrum-matched absorption, and a tunnel junction with minimal optical and electric losses, based on full consideration of charge generation, charge separation and transport/collection in a monolithic configuration. The centerpiece of technical approach includes: (1) perovskite solar cell with high PCEs and spectrum-matched absorption will be designed and synthesized; detailed structural and spectroscopic characterizations will be performed, which form the foundation for device fabrication; (2) high performance inorganic CIGS solar cell will be applied to cover the Near-IR (from 800nm to 1200nm) portion; (3) single junction devices based on the materials in the two spectral ranges will be fabricated to achieve optimized performance; charge generation, charge separation and transport mechanism in these devices will be studied; (4) novel nano-functional interlayer and novel geometry of hybrid tandem solar cells will be developed to maximize solar energy conversion; (5) solution processed transparent electrodes will be will be developed to realize all solution process hybrid tandem solar cells. Upon success, this will be the first solution processed solar cell reaching 30% efficiency mark, which is an important milestone for low-cost manufacturing of high efficiency solar cell.
This project is jointly funded by the Electronics, Photonics, and Magnetic Devices (EPMD) Program in the Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) and the Electronic and Photonic Materials (EPM) Program in the Division of Materials Research (DMR).
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Technical Summary:
The goal of this project is to achieve 30% PCE from perovskite/CuInGa(S, Se)2 (perovskite/CIGS) tandem solar cells. The fundamental research will provide us the opportunity to critically scrutinize the tandem structures, and to deeply understand the physical mechanism and interfacial properties involved in the tandem cell structure. Furthermore, the functional materials and device structures we will design for tandem solar cells will allow the combination of two subcells to achieve higher PCE.
The centerpiece of our technical approach includes:
(1) A high Voc perovskite solar cell with about 1.6 eV band gap light absorb layer.
(2) High quality CIGS solar cell will be fabricated to cover the Near-IR (from 800nm to 1200nm) by adjusting the ratio of Se: S.
(3) Maximize photocurrent (Jph) within the entire tandem cell and individual subcells.
(4) Minimize sub-bandgap absorption of all layers within the tandem cell.
(5) Construct interconnecting layers (ICL) that join the two cells without electrical loss and solution processed transparent electrodes will be developed to realize all solution process hybrid tandem solar cells.
(6) Simple and low-temperature processing of the front sub-cell. The fabrication procedure of the front (high Eg) sub-cell will not cause much increase in cost.
Non-Technical Summary:
Perovskite photovoltaics are an area of growing importance in exploring sustainable energy sources, and perovskite/CIGS tandem solar cell is a novel structure of the thin film tandem solar cell. This research effort will be used as a platform to attract underrepresented undergraduate students to the research area of renewable energy. It provides great opportunity to educate graduate students and postdoctoral associates for future challenge in green energy. This education process will significantly push forward the current science and technology of advanced PV technologies – organic, inorganic and hybrid PV, and achieve breakthrough performance via tandem device architecture.
Intellectual Merit:
This project is to develop highly efficient perovskite/CIGS tandem solar cell, and demonstrate potential to significantly improve thin film tandem solar cell performance. The research represents a new front for high efficiency solar cell research and integrates both chemistry and material science to generate new perspectives in science and offer solutions to challenging issues in sustainable energy. The achievements include:
Novel dopant 4-isopropyl-4'-methyldiphenyliodonium tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)borate (TPFB) is firstly doped into poly[bis(4-phenyl)(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)amine] (PTAA) as the hole transport layer for the p-i-n structure perovskite solar cell. The novel dopant can help the perovskite solar cell get higher efficiency than normal PTAA dopant.
We demonstrated a high efficiency of 22.43% for the tandem solar cell, which is certified by National Renewable Energy Laboratory. This is the highest efficiency thin film tandem solar cell so far.
Broader Impact:
The support of the NSF award enabled two PhD students to obtain their PhD degrees. Dr. Yao-Tsung Hsieh was elected to be the PhD student award of Materials Sciences and Engineering Department in 2018. The training provided students the fundamental concepts and skills of general research as well as stimulating their interest in applied scientific research.
The PI - Dr. Yang Yang taught a course - MSE 248 (Materials and Physics of Solar Cells)in UCLA, which provides the opportunity for students to link latest solar cell research with textbook knowledge.
We have undergraduate students in the lab with various background (Physics, MSE, EE) that help our research work and learn the new technology. This will stimulate the interest of new generation of researchers.
The PI has participated NSF workshops on PV in general to disseminate the research to broader society.
Selected Publications:
1. Jin-Wook Lee, Zhenghong Dai, Changsoo Lee, Hyuck Mo Lee, Tae-Hee Han, Nicholas De Marco, Oliver Lin, Christopher S. Choi, Bruce Dunn, Jaekyung Koh, Dino Di Carlo, Jeong Hoon Ko, Heather D. Maynard and Yang Yang. Tuning Molecular Interactions for Highly Reproducible and Efficient Formamidinium Perovskite Solar Cells via Adduct Approach. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 140, 6317, 2018.
2. Jin-Wook Lee, Sang-Hoon Bae, Nicholas De Marco, Yao-Tsung Hsieh, Zhenghong Dai, Yang Yang. The role of grain boundaries in perovskite solar cells. Materials Today Energy, 7, 149, 2018.
3. Jin-Wook Lee, Yao-Tsung Hsieh, Nicholas De Marco, Sang-Hoon Bae, Qifeng Han, and Yang Yang. Halide Perovskites for Tandem Solar Cells. J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 8 1999, 2017.
4. Yao-Tsung Hsieh, Qifeng Han, Chengyang Jiang, Tze-Bin Song, Huajun Chen, Lei Meng, Huanping Zhou and Yang Yang. Efficiency Enhancement of Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 solar cells via alkali metals doping. Advanced Energy Materials, 6, 1502386, 2016.
Last Modified: 08/10/2018
Modified by: Yang Yang
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