This platform aims to harness controlled light-matter interactions of new and emerging materials within solution-processed solar cell architectures that can go beyond silicon in efficiency or utility.
The platform’s aims are being achieved by developing new materials and device architectures through advanced theoretical and synthetic combinatorial screening approaches, advanced device simulation and characterisation methods. These are being applied to existing solar cell technologies, such as perovskites and copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS), in order to understand the origin of and, ideally, enhance their efficiencies. They are also being applied to a number of novel solar cell materials and device architectures that provide unique advantages compared to traditional silicon-based devices, including those based on back-contact perovskites, semi-transparent, bi-perovskite tandems and near-infrared (NIR) photovoltaics.
A key aspect of this work is to harness the advantages of solution-processing for developing high efficiency and low-cost printed solar cells. However, the printing of multi-layered stacks of materials is challenging, particularly when considering the control needed for high-efficiency devices. We focus on understanding the printing processes through insights attained from advanced simulations, that are coupled to ink engineering and printing efforts in order to accelerate the translation of specific materials, such as perovskites, towards larger-scale printing trials and devices at CSIRO.
