VATIS UPDATE Article

Researchers from the University of Göttingen, Germany, the Max Planck Institute for biophysical Chemistry (MPIPBC), Germany, and the Technical University of Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany, have developed a new type of solar cell that uses infrared energy to generate polaron excitations in perovskite materials. The researchers have shown that polarons – the coupled excitation of electrons and a crystal lattice – can be used to generate current.

“In conventional solar cells, the interaction between the electrons and the lattice vibrations can lead to unwanted losses, causing substantial problems, whereas the polaron excitations in the perovskite solar cell can be created with a fractal structure at certain operating temperatures and last long enough for a pronounced photovoltaic effect to occur,” said Dirk Raiser, at MPIPBC.

The perovskite solar cells developed by the team had to be cooled in the laboratory to around -35°C for the effect to take place. “The measurements so far were made in a carefully characterised reference material, in order to demonstrate the principle of the effect. For this purpose, the low transition temperature was accepted,” said Prof Simone Techert, at the University of Göttingen.
S