Halide Perovskite Photovoltaics: Background, Status, and Future Prospects

Abstract

The photovoltaics of organic-inorganic lead halide perovskite materials have shown rapid improvements in solar cell performance, surpassing the top efficiency of semiconductor compounds such as CdTe and CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide) used in solar cells in just about a decade. Perovskite preparation via simple and inexpensive solution processes demonstrates the immense potential of this thin-film solar cell technology to become a low-cost alternative to the presently commercially available photovoltaic technologies. Significant developments in almost all aspects of perovskite solar cells and discoveries of some fascinating properties of such hybrid perovskites have been made recently. This Review describes the fundamentals, recent research progress, present status, and our views on future prospects of perovskite-based photovoltaics, with discussions focused on strategies to improve both intrinsic and extrinsic (environmental) stabilities of high-efficiency devices. Strategies and challenges regarding compositional engineering of the hybrid perovskite structure are discussed, including potentials for developing all-inorganic and lead-free perovskite materials. Looking at the latest cutting-edge research, the prospects for perovskite-based photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices, including non-photovoltaic applications such as X-ray detectors and image sensing devices in industrialization, are described. In addition to the aforementioned major topics, we also review, as a background, our encounter with perovskite materials for the first solar cell application, which should inspire young researchers in chemistry and physics to identify and work on challenging interdisciplinary research problems through exchanges between academia and industry.

Cite this paper

Related papers

1. Organometal Halide Perovskites as Visible-Light Sensitizers for Photovoltaic Cells2009
2. Efficient Hybrid Solar Cells Based on Meso-Superstructured Organometal Halide Perovskites2012
3. Electron-Hole Diffusion Lengths Exceeding 1 Micrometer in an Organometal Trihalide Perovskite Absorber2013
4. Nanocrystals of Cesium Lead Halide Perovskites (CsPbX 3 , X = Cl, Br, and I): Novel Optoelectronic Materials Showing Bright Emission with Wide Color Gamut2015
5. Lead Iodide Perovskite Sensitized All-Solid-State Submicron Thin Film Mesoscopic Solar Cell with Efficiency Exceeding 9%2012