Publication date: 1st July 2014
Within the last few years, lead-based organo-metal halide perovskite solar cells have become the biggest contenders in the drive to provide a cheap, clean, renewable source of energy, rapidly climbing to efficiencies of over 16%. One of the biggest concerns about the use of this material is the toxicity of lead, prompting researchers to search for a lead free alternative. One of the most obvious alternatives to lead is tin, which like lead, is also a group 14 metal. However, the stability of tin in its 2+ oxidation state has proved to be an overwhelming challenge. In this work we have synthesised and characterised the tin perovskite CH3NH3SnI3 by encapsulating it under inert atmosphere. This material shows an absorption onset at approximately 1000nm, and photoluminescence at 950 nm corresponding to a band gap of approximately 1.25 eV. Here we report the first completely lead-free, CH3NH3SnI3 perovskite solar cell, reaching efficiencies of >6% under 1 sun illumination. Remarkably, we achieve voltages of up to 0.9V, suggesting that this material has intrinsically low voltage losses as compared to its lead analogue and even crystalline silicon. Further investigation and complete stabilisation of this material should allow a much greater increase in performance leading to efficiencies of >20%.
nanoGe is a prestigious brand of successful science conferences that are developed along the year in different areas of the world since 2009. Our worldwide conferences cover cutting-edge materials topics like perovskite solar cells, photovoltaics, optoelectronics, solar fuel conversion, surface science, catalysis and two-dimensional materials, among many others.
Previously nanoGe Spring Meeting (NSM) and nanoGe Fall Meeting (NFM), MATSUS is a multiple symposia conference focused on a broad set of topics of advanced materials preparation, their fundamental properties, and their applications, in fields such as renewable energy, photovoltaics, lighting, semiconductor quantum dots, 2-D materials synthesis, charge carriers dynamics, microscopy and spectroscopy semiconductors fundamentals, etc.
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV) is celebrated yearly in May. The main topics are the development, function and modeling of materials and devices for hybrid and organic solar cells. The field is now dominated by perovskite solar cells but also other hybrid technologies, as organic solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, and dye-sensitized solar cells and their integration into devices for photoelectrochemical solar fuel production.
Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics
The main topics of the Asia-Pacific International Conference on Perovskite, Organic Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics (IPEROP) are discussed every year in Asia-Pacific for gathering the recent advances in the fields of material preparation, modeling and fabrication of perovskite and hybrid and organic materials. Photovoltaic devices are analyzed from fundamental physics and materials properties to a broad set of applications. The conference also covers the developments of perovskite optoelectronics, including light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.
The International Conference on Perovskite Thin Film Photovoltaics Perovskite Photonics and Optoelectronics (NIPHO) is the best place to hear the latest developments in perovskite solar cells as well as on recent advances in the fields of perovskite light-emitting diodes, lasers, optical devices, nanophotonics, nonlinear optical properties, colloidal nanostructures, photophysics and light-matter coupling.