The project was to develop peroskite solar modules that are stable under partial shading conditions. Solar cells based on peroskite materials have the potential to further reduce the cost of solar electricity, due to their many attractive properties. The project provided a sound theoretical basis for understanding the behaviour and degradation of peroskite solar cells under reverse bias and led to the creation of a set of design guidelines for the fabrication of reverse bias-tolerant cells.
Report extract
This project was led by researchers at the Australian National University (ANU), in collaboration with the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. The focus and findings of the two groups were highly complementary. At EPFL, the team investigated the factors that contribute to destructive reverse bias behaviour via so-called “hot spots”, which are localized regions where high current appears to flow in the cells, causing these regions to heat up. Analysis of reverse-bias degraded
devices showed that contaminants (such as dust particles) were often responsible to the development of hot-spots. This suggests that reverse bias damage is not inevitable, and that good process control to minimise contamination could lead to highly stable perovskite cells in real-world operation.
