Summary

Since solar cells tend to degrade after a specific time of operation, characterization methods are more than necessary for the failure analysis of PV cells. New and emerging technologies such as perovskites and perovskite on silicon tandems, demand more advanced characterization methods for understanding degradation mechanisms occurring therein and subsequently contributing to improvement of their properties which can lead to their commercialization.

The proposed work aims to characterize such cells indoors with several optoelectronic techniques as well as outdoors at real operating conditions for the detailed analysis of degradation mechanisms. This highlights the importance of developing a dedicated laboratory and key collaborations for addressing complex and multiple failures in perovskites-based cells in a full top-down, holistic approach. Methods of Light Beam Induced Current (LBIC), Dark Lock-In Thermography (DLIT), Lock-in Thermography (LIT), spatially-resolved Electroluminescence (EL) and Photoluminescence (PL) are expected to be setup for a complete optical and electrical characterization of cells. These methods in combination with ultrafast spectroscopy and Raman measurements and other microscopic-spectroscopic techniques such as Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Photoelectron Microscopy (XPS) and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) will provide a detailed failure analysis in the perovskite-based cells.

The overall project pursues the improvement of the stability and efficiency of perovskite and perovskite on silicon tandem cells and also to the creation of a new infrastructure unit for tests of emerging technology cells with significant capabilities that is absent in Cyprus and in Europe generally.

In order to achieve the ambitious aims of this proposal, a highly relevant and driven consortium has been assembled to address the research work described in this proposal. Namely, three testing laboratories of the University of Cyprus, the PV Technology Laboratory (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering), the Laboratory of Ultrafast Science (Department of Physics) and Laboratory of Molecular Spectroscopy (Department of Chemistry) join forces with three excellent foreign research partner institutions, IMEC, the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), and Max-Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) in order to integrate in the project all the necessary skills for its successful implementation. IMEC present extensive experience in the fabrication of perovskite and perovskite tandem solar cells, whilst AIT has important expertise in next generation solar cell development and in non-destructive characterization techniques for testing PV technology components, and MPL have a very strong track-record in structural characterization of PV cells.