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					</table><p>A team of scientists from <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CSIRO</a>, the Australian National Science Agency, have reported a new record efficiency in roll-to-roll fully printed solar cells.</p>
<p>In a paper published in <em>Nature Communications</em> journal, the team demonstrated performances for solar cells of 15.5% efficiency on a small scale and 11% for a 50 cm2 module, a record for fully printed solar cells containing perovskite.</p>
<p>While silicon solar panels are rigid and heavy, printed solar cells are highly flexible and portable and have a wide range of applications ranging from urban construction, mining operations, emergency management, disaster relief, and space to defense and personal electronics.</p>
<p>The flexible solar cells were produced using a method in which all components of the device were fully printed from inks. Carbon-based inks were used to replace gold in the solar cell, dramatically reducing the cost while maintaining high performance.</p>
<p>The solar cells were printed using roll-to-roll techniques, which can be used to print solar cells on a long, continuous roll of plastic.</p>
<p>This lightweight and flexible solar technology, printed onto thin plastic films, is expected to expand solar cell usage and meet the growing demand for renewable energy.</p>
<p>&#8220;CSIRO&#8217;s thin and lightweight solar cells are now on the cusp of emerging from the lab to create clean energy in the real world. Roll-to-roll printing allows for the solar cells to be manufactured on very long, continuous rolls of plastic, which can dramatically increase the rate of production,&#8221; said the agency&#8217;s Renewable Energy Systems Group Leader Anthony Chesman.</p>
<p>The team, which collaborated with researchers from the <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Cambridge</a>, <a href="https://www.monash.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Monash University</a>, the <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Sydney</a><u>,</u> and the <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of New South Wales</a>, solved several engineering problems across a large surface area of interconnected modules to achieve record results.</p>
<p>&#8220;We developed a system for rapidly producing and testing over ten thousand solar cells a day – something that would have been impossible to do manually. We&#8217;ve also alleviated the need to use expensive metals, such as gold, in their production by using specialized carbon inks, which further reduces production costs,&#8221; stated Principal Research Scientist Doojin Vak.</p>
<p>Incorporating an advanced material called perovskite, CSIRO&#8217;s printed solar panels differ from the silicon solar panels found on Australian roofs. &#8220;Our thin, lightweight solar can be easily transported anywhere there is sun,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>The team also sent the solar panels to space to test their performance, to further optimize and provide a reliable energy source for future space endeavors.</p>
<p>Recently, scientists from the National University of Singapore <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/record-efficiency-tandem-solar-cell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a record energy conversion efficiency of 27.1% from a novel triple-junction solar cell, which promises to overcome current limitations in solar technology.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, researchers also <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/bulky-molecules-perovskite-solar-last-longer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> that adding bulky molecules can make perovskite solar cells last longer, surpassing silicon solar cells&#8217; maximum theoretical efficiency.</p>


Australian Scientists Report Record 15.5% Efficiency for Printed Solar Cells


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					</table><p>Researchers claimed to have developed improved thin perovskite films with reduced defects and better stability under higher temperatures by introducing dimethylammonium chloride as a new crystallization agent after substituting the largely used solvent dimethyl-sulfoxide.</p>
<p>The research was jointly conducted by <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oxford University</a>, <a href="https://www.monash.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Monash University</a>, and Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (<a href="https://www.acap.net.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ACAP</a>).</p>
<p>During testing, the researchers discovered that the device with dimethylammonium chloride as the solvent operated above the T80 threshold for more than 1,600 hours under the direct sun at 65 degrees Celsius.</p>
<p>The initial time taken by a solar cell to reduce to 80% of its initial efficiency, which is a common benchmark in research, is termed T80.</p>
<p>However, the conventional device that used dimethyl-sulfoxide as a solvent stopped functioning when exposed to high temperatures.</p>
<p>The teams from Oxford and Monash universities observed that devices fabricated with the new solvent attained 70% of their original efficiency under accelerated aging conditions.</p>
<p>The new perovskite solar cells age by a factor of 1.7 for every 10 degrees Celsius increase in temperature, while the same increases two-fold in commercial silicon devices.</p>
<p>Materials scientists worldwide are conducting studies to achieve constant stability in perovskite solar cells to enable mass production and commercialization.</p>
<p>The latest work published in the journal Nature Materials evaluates the perovskite crystallization method, which directly impacts the device’s stability.</p>
<p><strong>The experiment </strong></p>
<p>Conventionally, solvents like dimethyl-formamide or dimethyl-sulfoxide are <a href="https://mercomindia.com/scientists-use-green-solvent-to-achieve-perovskite-solar-cells/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">used</a> in the crystallization process of perovskites.</p>
<p>Using these two solvents often leads to degraded crystal quality and poor microstructure of the polycrystalline perovskite films when exposed to direct sunlight.</p>
<p>In the current experiment, researchers pursued a high-temperature dimethyl-sulfoxide-free processing technique wherein dimethylammonium chloride was used as an additive to control the perovskite intermediate precursor phases.</p>
<p>The scientists subjected large groups of 138 sample devices to aggressive aging and testing under direct sunlight and at high temperatures in the laboratory.</p>
<p>After the team controlled the crystallization process of perovskite solar cells using dimethylammonium chloride, it introduced and tuned the grain size, texturing orientation, and crystallinity of a system with formamidinium-cesium.</p>
<p>Last month, a team of researchers from Northwestern University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Toledo <a href="https://mercomindia.com/researchers-claim-solar-cell-shows-27-4-efficiency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> to have developed an all-perovskite tandem solar cell that achieved a power conversion efficiency of 27.4%, which is more than the efficiency of 25.5% <a href="https://mercomindia.com/2d-cations-tin-lead-perovskite-solar-cells/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">achieved</a> by scientists at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory in June.</p>


Researchers Improve Stability of Thin Perovskite Films Using New Solvent

<p>Researchers at <a href="https://www.monash.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Monash University</a>, <a href="https://www.deakin.edu.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Deakin University</a>, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (<a href="http://www.iitb.ac.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">IITB</a>)-Monash Research Academy, have claimed that that using a carbon cloth collector can improve the sulfur utilization of batteries, which would make them more efficient.</p>
<p>Carbon cloth is a conducting textile, which is an excellent current collector as well as has high surface area support.</p>
<p>Scientists and engineers have been focusing on finding a more sustainable way of making lithium batteries, which relies on scarce resources and is challenging to produce on a large-scale at affordable prices. The researchers say that the carbon cloth is key to this development. By activating it in a simple process, it becomes a catalytic agent in the discharge process of the sulfur electrode, leading to a higher overall voltage and extended life.</p>
<p>“Batteries of the future are necessary because in various significant market areas they form a vital part of the transition away from fossil fuels,” said the study’s author Professor Douglas MacFarlane, from the Monash University School of Chemistry.</p>
<p>He also explained that the integration of renewables into the grid is hampered by the variability of the supply. Hence, battery storage either at home or in the wind or solar project is necessary. However, he pointed out that currently, it is an expensive component of the system.</p>
<p>The research is part of a longer-term collaboration between Monash, Deakin, and the ITTB funded through an Australia India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF) project aimed at developing affordable high-performance batteries.</p>
<p>Professor Maria Forsyth, from Deakin University, said that the most immediate application of these batteries in India could be in local transportation applications, for example, in the auto-rickshaws that are extensively used in Asia as well as other smaller electric vehicles (EVs). “In Australia, we could see such batteries powering EVs, and they could also be used for home battery storage,” she said.</p>
<p>“The study describes the outstanding performance for a high-energy-density room-temperature sodium-sulfur (RT Na-S) battery, with the discovery that simple chemical activation of a carbon cloth current collector (which researchers fill with a sulfur-based liquid electrolyte) could allow a Na-S battery to operate at near its theoretical voltage and deliver an energy density of just under 1kWh/kg of sulfur,” the release stated.</p>
<p>It further stated that the appeal of the Na-S battery is that the raw materials, sodium salts, and sulfur are inexpensive. The battery operates at room temperature and can be charged and discharged at reasonable rates.</p>
<p>Recently, Mercom had reported that researchers at the Washington State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory had <a href="https://mercomindia.com/rresearchers-announce-cheapersodium-ion-battery/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced</a> that they had created a sodium-ion battery that can be made with widely and cheaply available materials.</p>
<p>Japanese researchers earlier said that they had <a href="https://mercomindia.com/researchers-electrode-material-lithium-batteries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">developed</a> a new electrode material and claimed that it would make lithium batteries cheaper, more stable, and capable of holding more charge for longer periods.</p>


Researchers Claim Carbon Cloth Collector Improves Sulfur Utilization of Batteries

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