Engineers from Skoltech and the A. V. Nikolaev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry took part in the study
Many engineers are now looking for an analogue.solar cells based on lead complex halides. They are distinguished by low cost, ease of manufacture, high light conversion efficiency. However, their production is very toxic - unstable lead halides have to be combined with fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine, which makes batteries dangerous to use.
All existing alternative creation optionsSolar cells are characterized by low light conversion efficiency. In their research, Russian scientists write that the reason is the non-optimal structure of bismuth and antimony compounds.
We found that the low dimensionality of anionicthe lattices of such compounds (zero, sometimes 1D, and extremely rarely 2D) do not allow for the unhindered transport of holes and electrons necessary for the efficient operation of solar cells. As a result, materials of this class can demonstrate effective work in lateral photodetectors, but do not work in solar cells.
Professor of the Center for Energy Research Skolteha Pavel Troshin
In the new semiconductor material based onperovskite-like complex antimony bromide, engineers managed to achieve record light conversion efficiency for antimony halides and bismuth. In the future, scientists are going to explore new compounds for use in solar batteries.