Page 20 - august_072922.indd
P. 20
TAP TIMES -20- AUGUST 2022
Perovskites could take
solar panels to new heights
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Perovskites hold
promise for creating solar panels that
could be easily deposited onto most
surfaces, including flexible and tex-
tured ones.
Lightweight and efficient
These materials would also be lightweight, Are perovskites a replacement for silicon? Some researchers
cheap to produce, and as efficient as to- think so. (Pixabay)
day’s leading photovoltaic materials, which covered in 1839 and named after Russian
are mainly silicon. mineralogist L.A. Perovski.
They’re the subject of increasing research Distinctive crystal configuration
and investment, but companies looking to The original mineral perovskite, which is
harness their potential do have to address calcium titanium oxide (CaTiO3), has a
some remaining hurdles before perovskite- distinctive crystal configuration. It has a
based solar cells can be commercially three-part structure, whose components
competitive. have come to be labeled A, B and X, in
which lattices of the different components
The term perovskite refers not to a specific are interlaced.
material, like silicon or cadmium telluride,
other leading contenders in the photovol- The family of perovskites consists of the
taic realm, but to a whole family of com- many possible combinations of elements
pounds. or molecules that can occupy each of the
three components and form a structure
The perovskite family of solar materials similar to that of the original perovskite
is named for its structural similarity to a itself.
mineral called perovskite, which was dis-
Bending the rules
(Some researchers even bend the rules a
little by naming other crystal structures
with similar elements “perovskites,” al-
though this is frowned upon by crystallog-
raphers.)
“You can mix and match atoms and mol-
ecules into the structure, with some limits.
For instance, if you try to stuff a molecule
that’s too big into the structure, you’ll dis-
tort it.
Perovskites are seen as the next likely platform for solar cells, “Eventually you might cause the 3D crystal
replacing silicon. (Olivares/DAniloff, MIT)- next page
