Top 5 Solar Energy Advances Using Perovskites

This video is brought to you by Guardian. For years, special kinds of semiconductors called perovskites have been promised revolutionary improvements compared to traditional silicon solar cells. Perovskites could hold the key to higher efficiency at lower costs. In some cases, perovskites have been shown to offer a 250% performance boost, but scientists have been working on this tech since the 1990s. So what do we have to show for today? Well, this feels like yet another piece of overhyped planet-saving tech, perpetually 10 years away from adoption, right? Well, maybe not. This might finally be on the market before the end of this year. Let's look at five perovskite solar panel advances since the last time we talked about it.

本视频由卫报推出。多年来，一种名为钙钛矿的特殊半导体一直被承诺能比传统硅太阳能电池实现革命性的改进。钙钛矿可能是实现更高效率低成本的关键。在某些情况下，钙钛矿已被证明可提供250％的性能提升，但自1990年以来，科学家一直在研究这项技术。那么现在我们有什么结果？这似乎又是一种被过度宣传的拯救地球的技术，一直到采用还要再等10年，对吧？好吧，也许不是。这种技术可能最终在今年年底之前上市。让我们看看自上次讨论以来五项钙钛矿太阳能电池的进展。

I'm Matt Farrell. Welcome to Undecided. Proskites are yet another example of old technology that's just starting to gain some traction in the world of renewables. But how old? Well, it was first discovered all the way back in 1839 and is a family of materials with the same crystal structure as calcium titanium oxide. However, it wasn't until the 1950s that they saw use in fuel cells, superconductors, and other applications. Even then, it would take another half century before they were first used as the optical absorption layer in solar cells.

我是马特·法雷尔。欢迎来到Undecided。 Proskites是又一个老技术在可再生能源领域开始受到关注的例子。但这项技术有多老呢？早在1839年，它就被发现了，并具有与氧化钙钛的相同晶体结构的一组材料。然而，直到1950年代，它们才被用于燃料电池、超导体和其他应用。即便如此，又过了半个世纪，它们才首次被用作太阳能电池中的光吸收层。

So why are so many people hyped about the use of perovskites in solar cells? I won't go into all the details because I've covered a lot of the specifics in another video, which I'll link to in the description. But in a nutshell, as abundant as silicon is, there's a theoretical limit to the efficiency that we can achieve. As referred to as the shock-liquacer limit, perovskites can go beyond that limit just by a little bit, and they promise to be significantly cheaper. If perovskites are so cheap and efficient, why aren't they everywhere?

那么为什么许多人对于在太阳能电池中使用钙钛矿如此热衷？我不会详细阐述，因为我在另一段视频中已经涵盖了大部分具体细节，我会在描述中附上链接。但简而言之，尽管硅很丰富，但我们可以达到的效率有一个理论限制，也被称为Shockley-Queisser限制，而钙钛矿可以超越这个极限，尽管只是稍微一点点，但它们承诺成本显著更低。如果钙钛矿如此便宜和高效，为什么它们不到处都有？

Well, the first issue is lifespan. Currently, perovskites just can't stand up to the typical 25-year warranty of a silicon cell. Oxygen, moisture, and heat can all reduce perovskite's generational output and lifespan. And unfortunately, the solar panel is sitting outside, is going to be facing a lot of oxygen, moisture, and heat. And this can happen quickly, with some perovskite cells reduced to just 80% capacity in two years or less. That's a far cry from silicon's 25-plus years and beyond. And to prevent this, a capping layer of lead is usually applied to the cell, but lead is, of course, heavy-end, toxic. And as these short-lived cells age, break down, or get discarded, that lead can escape and harm the local environment.

首先，关于寿命的问题。目前，钙钛矿太阳能电池的使用寿命还无法达到典型硅太阳能电池的25年保修期。氧气、水分和热量都会降低钙钛矿太阳能电池的发电能力和使用寿命。不幸的是，太阳能电池板是放在户外的，会暴露于大量氧气、水分和热量之中。并且，这种情况可能会很快发生，有些钙钛矿太阳能电池会在两年甚至更短的时间内就降低到只有80%的发电能力。这与硅材料的25年甚至更长使用寿命相差很远。为了解决这个问题，通常会在电池上添加一层铅封顶层，但是铅材料无疑又沉重又有毒。随着这些寿命较短的电池老化、损坏或被丢弃，其中的铅材料可能会泄漏并危害到周围环境。

So has anyone addressed these challenges? Has there been any meaningful progress or new innovations that bring perovskites closer to reality and retail? In a word? Yes. So let's look at five advances since the last time we covered this.

那么，有人解决了这些挑战吗？是否有任何有意义的进展或新创新，使钙钛矿更接近现实和零售？简而言之？有。因此，让我们来看看自上次我们报道以来的五个进展。 （注：该段为AI翻译，存在一定误差，仅供参考）

First up is this study led by Tunele Guó, a professor of optics at the University of Rochester, my hometown. And it suggests that perovskites have the potential to become radically more efficient. Over the course of the research, Guó and his team found a way to massively boost perovskites carrier diffusion length. By replacing the glass surface, you'd usually find in perovskite cells with a metal or a metamaterial composed of alternating layers of silver and aluminum oxide, the researchers created a sort of electron mirror. And this mirroring effect ended up increasing performance by 250%.

首先介绍的是由我的家乡罗切斯特大学光学教授Tunele Guó领导的一项研究，它表明钙钛矿有可能变得更加高效。在研究过程中，Guó和他的团队找到了一种大大提高钙钛矿载流子扩散长度的方法。通过将钙钛矿电池中通常使用的玻璃表面替换为由交替层银和氧化铝组成的金属或金属材料，研究人员创造出了一种电子镜。这种镜像效应最终使性能提高了250%。

Now before we get too hyped up, let's clarify that this isn't a direct 250% jump. Broadly speaking, solar panel efficiency usually refers to power conversion efficiency or PCE, which is the percentage of solar energy shining on the PV's device that's converted into usable electricity. In this case, we're talking about how long the electrons essentially bounce around inside the cell before they dissipate or the carrier diffusion length. That's where the 250% jump is happening. Now if that's a little confusing, consider the offshore wind turbines we explored in a recent video. And just because we double the wind turbines radius doesn't mean we get a straightforward 3, 4 or 5 times power increase. There's a lot of changes to internal components beyond the blade size that impact the final output result. It's the same with these cells. Just because we vastly increase the photosensitivity doesn't mean that we vastly increase the final power output.

在我们过于兴奋之前，让我们澄清一下，这并不是直接增加250％。广义地说，太阳能电池板效率通常指的是功率转换效率或PCE，即转换为可用电力的PV设备上照射的太阳能的百分比。在这种情况下，我们谈论的是电子在单元内弹跳多久，然后才能散去或载流子扩散长度。这就是250％的跳跃的地方。如果这有点令人困惑，请考虑我们在最近一期视频中探讨的海上风力涡轮机。仅仅因为我们加倍了风力涡轮机的半径并不意味着我们会获得直接3、4或5倍的功率增加。除了叶片大小之外，内部组件发生了许多变化，这些变化影响了最终的输出结果。这对这些电池也是一样的。仅仅因为我们大幅提高了光敏度并不意味着我们大幅提高了最终的功率输出。

However, this is still a very noteworthy development because it opens the door for far more advanced perovskite cells down the line. And here's why.

然而，这仍然是一个非常值得注意的发展，因为它为更先进的钙钛矿太阳能电池打开了大门。原因如下。

Typical solar panels are essentially two obviously charged semiconductors that are stuck together forming a neutral zone. Now, ideally, incoming photons of sunlight knock the electrons out of the neutral zone and then the solar panels electrodes capture that as usable electricity. That's grossly oversimplified to put in a nutshell. That's what's happening. The problem is that these recently free electrons often recombine with their polar opposite or their respective semiconductor layers before the electrodes can capture them. And that seriously hamper their ability to actually make electricity. But when Gwolun's team added a metal substrate below the perovskite layer, they found that the free-ish flowing electrons within the metal layer moved the recently free electrons in the perovskite. These ultimately kept the electrons free longer, which meant more opportunities for their charge to be collected. And theoretically, this should allow cells to generate more energy with the same sunlight and ultimately to be more efficient. It's especially cool because other methods for achieving similar results require complex chemical engineering. And said this approach involves a simple, stable piece of metal.

典型的太阳能电池板基本上是由两个明显带电的半导体材料粘结在一起形成一个中性区。太阳光的光子可以把电子从中性区中释放出来，然后太阳能电池电极可以将其捕获成为可用的电能。这是一个简单的说明，实际上过程要更加复杂。电子在被捕获前往往会再次与异极电子或相应的半导体层重新组合，在很大程度上削弱了太阳能电池发电的能力。然而，当Gwolun的团队在钙钛矿层下加入金属衬底后，他们发现金属层内自由的电子可以移动到钙钛矿层内，从而让电子的自由时间更长，增加电荷的收集机会，理论上讲，这可以让电池在同样的阳光下产生更多的能量，变得更加高效。这种方法尤其棒的地方在于，它不需要复杂的化学工程，只需要简单且稳定的金属材料。

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Now let's get back to the second advance on stability. Researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered a very star-trick sounding way to enhance the perovskite's durability. Remember that perovskites are a multi-crystalline material. That means that when you're growing a perovskite, that material forms as a series of crystals or grains. These grains are responsible for absorbing light and generating the charges that become an electrical current. Normally ions find their own path through the perovskite grain causing tiny chemical reactions and molecular changes that shorten a cell's lifespan. However, the NCSU group found that by channeling the ions into defined roots between the crystals, which they call grain boundaries, they formed a sort of ionic desire path. I told you it sounded kind of star-trekky. By moving through these designated lanes instead of bouncing around, the ions cause less harm to the cell leading to more stability and longer lifespans.

现在让我们回到第二个稳定性的进展。北卡罗来纳州立大学的研究人员发现了一种听起来非常高级的方法来增强钙钛矿的耐久性。记住，钙钛矿是一种多晶材料。这意味着在生长钙钛矿时，该材料会形成一系列晶体或颗粒。这些颗粒负责吸收光线并产生成为电流的电荷。通常，离子会在钙钛矿晶体中找到自己的路径，导致微小的化学反应和分子变化，从而缩短细胞的寿命。然而，北卡罗来纳州立大学的团队发现通过将离子引导到他们称之为晶界的定义根部之间，形成了一种离子欲望路径。我告诉你听起来有点像星际迷航。通过在这些指定的通道中移动，而不是四处弹跳，离子对细胞的伤害更小，从而提高了稳定性和寿命。

The third up is Liyou Zhang and his team out of Penn State, who found a way to quickly and easily manufacture high-grade perovskites. The typical fabrication process for perovskites involves wet chemistry. The materials are liquefied in a solvent solution and then solidified into a film. While it's very efficient for smaller applications, the process is slow and expensive, so it just doesn't scale up well. The solvents in the manufacturing process might also be toxic, so obviously not ideal.

宾州州立大学的张立友及其团队是第三个研究出一种快速、容易制造高级钙钛矿的方法的团队。钙钛矿的典型制造过程涉及湿化学处理，材料在溶剂中液化，然后固化成薄膜。尽管对于较小的应用非常有效，但该过程速度缓慢、费用高，因此无法很好地扩展。制造过程中的溶剂也可能具有毒性，因此显然不是理想的选择。

To get around these hurdles, the Penn State team created halide perovskites using a method called Spark Plasma Centering, or the Electrical and Mechanical Field-Assisted Centering Technique, also known as EMFAST. Put simply, this technique involves applying an electric current and pressure to powders, causing a reaction that welds the powder into a new solid material. And you know the so-called unbreakable iron triangle? Cheap, fast, or good? You could only pick two. Well EMFAST may have just broken it. One of the benefits of the EMFAST process is that it has a 100% yield, meaning that all the powder that you put down will be transformed into perovskites. Compared this to the 20-30% yield of the more common solution-based processing, and we're already off to a very cost-efficient start.

为了克服这些障碍，宾州州立大学团队采用一种名为Spark Plasma Centering或电力和机械场辅助定向技术（EMFAST）的方法来制造卤化物钙钛矿。简单来说，这种技术涉及将电流和压力施加到粉末上，从而引起一种反应，使粉末焊接成为新的固体材料。你知道所谓的不可打破的三角铁吗？便宜、快速或好？你只能选择其中两个。EMFAST可能已经打破了它。 EMFAST过程的一个优点是它的产量为100％，这意味着您放下的所有粉末都将转化为钙钛矿。相比之下，常见的溶液处理的产量仅为20-30％，我们已经在非常节省成本的起点上了。

The process is also able to create 0.2 inches of perovskite per minute. That might not sound like a lot, but what would have taken days or weeks can now be done in mere minutes. EMFAST? It's more like EM SuperFAST. And this technique doesn't seem to sacrifice on quality either. As Zhang says, their properties can compete with single crystal perovskites. There's other benefits too. EMFAST doesn't use solvents, though there's no need to worry about toxic materials. Unless the centering process can be performed in a way that's similar to 3D printing, allowing for layered perovskites tailored to a wide array of jobs. This includes not just better solar panels, but also enhanced X and gamma-ray detectors. And even more innovative developments from EMFAST could be written on the corner.

这个过程每分钟能够创建0.2英寸的钙钛矿。听起来可能不是很多，但原本需要数天或数周才能完成的工作，现在只需要几分钟即可完成。EMFAST？那更像是EM超快速。而且这种技术似乎并没有牺牲质量。正如张所说，它们的性质可以与单晶钙钛矿相竞争。还有其他好处。EMFAST不使用溶剂，因此无需担心有毒物质。除非可以像3D打印一样执行居中过程，从而为大量工作定制分层钙钛矿。这不仅包括更好的太阳能电池板，还包括增强的X和γ射线探测器。而EMFAST的更多创新发展也可能在不远的将来出现。

And speaking of environmentally friendly materials, for number 4 we have another exciting breakthrough from February. Like we mentioned earlier, perovskite cells unfortunately necessity a capping layer made of toxic lead. But in seeking to make perovskite solar cells more eco-friendly, Professor Seng-Shen from NEN Young Technological University or N.T.U. may have found a way to make them more efficient, stable, and market-ready. After a lot of testing, the N.T.U. scientists used a full precursor solution or FPS method to co-perovskites with solutions containing metal-halade salts and PEAI. Among the caps that were made with this method, they found the most effective was a non-toxic zinc-based compound. And I'm not even trying to pronounce it, this is the name of it, and I'm sorry to any sleeper agents that I just activated.

说到环保材料，我们在第四个突破中又有了另一个令人兴奋的发现。正如我们之前提到的，钙钛矿电池不幸需要使用有毒的铅作为封装层。但为了让钙钛矿太阳能电池更加环保，新加坡南洋理工大学的盛晟教授可能已经发现了一种使它们更有效、更稳定和更具市场可行性的方法。经过大量测试，南洋理工大学的科学家们使用了全前体溶液或FPS法来共沉淀含金属卤盐和PEAI的钙钛矿。在这种方法制备的封装层中，他们发现最有效的是一种非毒性的基于锌的化合物。我甚至不想尝试发音，这就是它的名字，我很抱歉有任何潜在特工受到了我的激活。

Now, it's able to convert 24.1% of the light captured to electricity. It becomes close to the highest efficiency achieved so far by perovskite solar cells. As for the lifespan, the FPS coated cells were able to maintain more than 90% of their ability to convert light into electricity from more than 1000 hours of operation. For context, perovskite cells without this coating typically dropped to around 50% power conversion efficiency at just 300 hours.

现在，它能够将捕获的光的24.1%转化为电力。这接近于目前铁钛矿太阳能电池所能达到的最高效率。至于寿命，经过FPS涂层的电池能够在1000多个小时的运作中保持90%以上的将光转化为电能的能力。相比之下，没有这种涂层的铁钛矿电池通常在仅仅300个小时后，转换效率就降至约50%。

And that said, there just hasn't been enough tests or even solid agreed upon standards to really compare perovskites here. And it's not only perovskites versus other types of solar cells, so it is difficult to say how good that really is, but good news, this method does seem eminently reproducible. During testing, N.T.U. fabricated 103 FPS cells, and they all performed in the same manner, which shows this isn't just a fluke.

话虽如此，我们实际上还没有进行足够的测试或达成坚实的共识标准，以便在这里真正比较钙钛矿。而且这不仅仅涉及到与其他种类的太阳能电池相比，所以很难说这到底有多好，但是好消息是，这种方法确实是可以非常可靠地复制的。在测试中，N.T.U.制作了103个FPS电池，它们表现出相同的性能，这表明这不是偶然事件。

And finally, number five is kind of a cheat. It's a sub-list to my list. It seems like one university after another is handling every issue that you could think of from toxicity to longevity to cost. And sure, all this progress is exciting, but so far I've only mentioned laboratory breakthroughs. Does any of this have any real world applications?

最后，第五点有点作弊。它是我清单中的一个子列表。每个大学似乎都在处理你想到的所有问题，从毒性到寿命到成本。当然，所有这些进展都很令人兴奋，但到目前为止，我只提到了实验室的突破。这些研究有没有任何实际应用呢？

Is any of it on the market yet? Are we any closer to better solar panels now than we were last year? Absolutely. In fact, we're closer than you might think. Recent financial support and new measures from both the U.S. government and the EU have contributed a lot to boosting various perovskite cell enterprises and help them evolve past their pilot phases.

这些产品中的任何一个已经面市了吗？我们现在离更好的太阳能板比去年更近了吗？的确如此。实际上，我们比你想象的更近。最近，美国政府和欧盟采取的新措施以及提供的财政支持，对于推进各种钙钛矿电池企业并帮助它们超越试验阶段贡献良多。

This sub-list is about commercialization. Oxford PV, who we checked out last year, is planning the commercial launch of its perovskite on Silicon-Tandem cell this year, predicting a conversion efficiency of 27% and an energy yield of 24%. If all goes well, Oxford PV and German partner Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin or HZB plan to expand their pilot factory near the German capital and scale up production to 10 Gw by the end of the decade. And France is right behind them.

这个子列表是关于商业化的。去年我们检查过的牛津光伏公司计划在今年商业推出其硅钙钛矿双接触电池，预计转换效率为27%，能量利用率为24%。如果一切顺利，牛津光伏和德国合作伙伴赫姆霍兹-柏林中心(HZB)计划向德国首都附近的 pilot 工厂扩张生产，到本十年末将规模扩大到 10 Gw。法国也紧随其后。

The Solar Research Center IPVF has partnered with French manufacturer Voltek Solar to build a solar panel factory that will produce tandem four terminal combination perovskite silicon cells. The partners aim to start production early next year and ramp up capacity to 5 Gw by 2030.

太阳能研究中心IPVF与法国制造商Voltek Solar合作建造一个太阳能电池板工厂，该工厂将生产串联四端子复合物钙钛矿硅电池。合作伙伴旨在于明年初开始生产，并在2030年之前将产能提高到5 Gw。

And Germany is currently the EU's largest solar market, so it's no surprise that HZB is double dipping in solar. Last year they teamed up with QCEL, a Korean solar manufacturer, to establish a pilot manufacturing line for Silicon perovskite tandem cells in Tallheim, Germany. This research project is tastefully named PEPA-RONI, or pilot line for European production of perovskite silicon tandem modules on industrial scale. I prefer PEPA-RONI. It aims to address perovskite's challenges and speed up the technology's mass manufacturing. The research side of this project is set to conclude in 2026, but by June of that year, they plan to be ready to mass produce perovskite tandem cells at competitive rates.

德国目前是欧盟最大的太阳能市场，因此，HZB在太阳能领域有所涉足也就不足为奇了。去年，他们与韩国太阳能制造商QCEL合作，在德国塔尔海姆建立了一条硅钙钛矿串联电池的试点生产线。这个研究项目被精心地命名为PEPA-RONI，也就是用于欧洲硅钙钛矿串联模块工业化生产的试验生产线。我更喜欢PEPA-RONI这个名称。它旨在解决硅钙钛矿的挑战，并加速该技术的大规模制造。该项目的研究阶段将于2026年结束，但在那一年的6月，他们计划以具有竞争力的价格大规模生产硅钙钛矿串联电池。

And finally, Toronto-based QD solar boasts a great efficiency rate and they're actually ready for the market. The company's spin-coded and slide-dot coated perovskite cells are designed with mass production in mind and boasts efficiency ratings of 24% and 23.2% respectively. And better yet, they just had those numbers confirmed by a third party in February.

最后，总部位于多伦多的QD太阳能公司拥有极高的效率率，并且他们已经准备好面向市场进行销售。该公司的旋转编码和滑动点涂层钙钛矿电池是为大规模生产而设计的，分别拥有24%和23.2%的效率评级。更好的是，他们在今年2月份刚刚被第三方证实了这些数据。

Ultimately, it's easy to see why so many people are optimistic about perovskites. Perovskite solar cells have emerged as a promising foldable tech technology for many reasons and headway is being made on addressing several perovskite's challenges and it looks like commercialization is finally happening. By the end of this year or next, we should have some options on the market as the developments we've talked about are incorporated into perovskite cells, it's going to continue to expand the sector and keep it growing and in on a moment too soon.

最终，很容易看出为什么许多人对钙钛矿材料感到乐观。钙钛矿太阳能电池因为许多原因崭露头角，成为了一种有前途的可折叠技术，而且在应对钙钛矿材料的几个挑战方面取得了进展，商业化似乎终于要来了。到今年年底或明年，我们应该会看到市场上有一些选项，因为我们所谈到的发展趋势被纳入到钙钛矿电池中，这将继续扩大这个领域并使其保持增长势头。

So what do you think? Jump in the comments and let me know. And be sure to check out my follow-up podcast still to be determined we'll be discussing some of your feedback. And thanks to all my patrons who get ad free versions of every video and thanks to all of you for watching. I'll see you in the next one.

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