Piers Anderson (Dyesol UK)
Solar Energy Case Study –
Enhanced Perovskite Solar
Cells Utilising Graphene
InnovateUK Funded Project
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2014
Technology Status
Contents
Dyesol & 2-D Tech Background
Status of Perovskite Solar Cells
•
Efficiency
•
Architectures
•
Perovskite/Graphene Publications
Graphene Technology (2-D Tech)
•
Material Production
Technology Development
•
InnovateUK Funded Project
•
‘Golden Triangle’
•
Scale-Up
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Dyesol Locations & Collaborations
Dyesol UK
Manchester
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2-D Tech Ltd
• Founded by the University of Manchester to
commercialise Graphene manufacture and
application in 2012
• Acquired by Versarien Ltd in 2014 as a core
part of an advanced materials portfolio
• Retains a strong R&D presence within the
University of Manchester, link to NGI
• Production and project management through
core Versarien teams
Lab Efficiency Trends
EPFL
EPFL
BASF
EPFL
EPFL
EPFL
EPFL
EPFL
10
EPFL
5
EPFL
Efficiency
15
Sharp
Liquid
Liquid Trend
Solid
EPFL
20
NW
SKKU
Oxford
Dyesol
EPFL
KRICT
EPFL
EPFL
Oxford
KRICT
KRICT
UCLA
KRICT
Status of Perovskite Solar Cells
0
1990
1995
2000
2005
Year
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2014
2010
2015
Perovskite Solar Cell Architectures
Dynamic R&D area, range of different architectures (mesoporous, nanostructure,
planar), tandem cells, etc. being investigated
Wide scope to optimise different areas of architecture, large number of academic
groups investigating layers within stack (EPFL, Oxford University, KRICT, SKK)
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Architecture
Methylammonium Lead Iodide perovskite sensitised all-solid-state
submicron thin film mesoscopic solar cell with efficiency >15%
TiO2/CH3NH3PbI3/Spiro
The role of TiO2
Blocking layer
Mesoporous
TiO2
Titania nano-particles as e- conductor
MALI as light absorber
Spiro as h+ conductor
Declared ŋ = 9.7% (1000W/m2)
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Graphene Production
• Commercial production of samples
• ‘Gold standards’
• Three Core Graphene production processes
established
• CVD
• Chemical exfoliation
• Novel patented process
• Access to the full range of university equipment,
analytical techniques and expertise
Material Production
Production by removing elements from
a large starting material.
Assembly of a nanostructure from
smaller elements.
2-DTECH – GRAPHENE PLATELETS


Top down process
Processes include


(a)
Exfoliation
 (a) Mechanical
 (b) Liquid phase
Reduced Graphene Oxide
5-10 atomic layers
<1000nm lateral
<1% O2
(b)
<4 atomic layers
<100nm lateral
2-3% O2
© 2-DTech Ltd, 2015. All Rights Reserved
CVD Graphene
-
Bottom Up
-
Large area coatings
-
High quality single layer
graphene on a variety of
substrates
Graphene on SiO2 under
optical microscope
Recent Perovskite Solar Cell
/ Graphene Publications
J.Am.Chem.Soc. (2014) Yang, et.al., Efficiency Enhancement of Perovskite Solar
Cells through Fast Electron Extraction: The Role of Graphene Quantum Dots
Nano Letters (2014) Nicholas, et.al., Low-Temperature Processed Electron
Collection Layers of Graphene/TiO2 Nanocomposites in Thin Film Perovskite
Solar Cells
J.Mater.Chem.A (2014) Wang, et.al., Graphene Oxide as Dual Functional
Interface Modifier for Improving Wettability & Retarding Recombination in Hybrid
Perovskite Solar Cells
Nano Energy (2015) Na, et.al., Highly Efficient & Stable Planar Perovskite Solar
Cells with Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanosheets as Electrode Interlayers
Nanoscale (2014) Sun, et.al., Efficient Planar Heterojunction Perovskite Solar
Cells Employing Graphene Oxide as Hole Conductor
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InnovateUK Funded Project
Recent one-year InnovateUK SMART Award funding received by 2-D Tech,
which facilitated the collaboration with Dyesol UK
Investigation of a range of perovskite solar cell/graphene architectures, using
graphene nanoplatelets and reduced graphene oxide
Optimise parameters to improve solar cell efficiency
Improvement in stability and durability of perovskite solar cells using graphene
Encapsulation aspects, to improve moisture resistance of perovskite, lifetime of
products for Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) applications
Longer term aim to scale-up the technology, whilst retaining the high efficiency
and improved performance, for R2R large scale devices
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Technology Development
Focus
The ‘Golden Triangle’:
• Efficiency
• Low Cost
• Durability
Key R&D Focus:
1. Scale-Up
2. Durability
Efficiency

?
Durability
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
Low
Cost
Technology Development
Scale-Up
Designs
Lab Designs
• e.g., test
cells
Processes
Materials
Lab Materials
Industrial Engineering
• e.g., Panel
layout and
assembly
Materials Scale-up
• e.g.,
perovskite
absorbers
Lab Processes
Commercial Designs
Production Materials
• 1000’s of
square
meters
Process Development
• e.g., paste
formulation
for screen
printing
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Industrial Processes
Product Impacts for Market
Perovskite solar cell and graphene are dynamic R&D areas,
combine advantages of both materials, to further increase
solar cell efficiency
Understanding of stability and durability improvements that
could be achieved, encapsulation aspect to avoid moisture
Combination of expertise of Dyesol UK & 2-D Tech, to
optimise technological advances, leading to scale-up, with
support from InnovateUK funding
Application of perovskite-based solar cells for BIPV
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Thank You!
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Piers Anderson
Dyesol UK Ltd
UMIC – Incubator Building
48 Grafton Street
Manchester
M13 9XX
Email: panderson@dyesol.com
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2014