Project in brief

Motivation

SHERPA’s achievements will make advancements on cutting edge MHP solar cells that are pivotal to reach EU’s environmental targets for a reliable and green energy transition at low-cost


Expected Results

ii) High level of lead (Pb) and lead leakage which are toxic to humansand wildlife; according to EU’s “Restriction of Hazardous Substances” (RoHS) directive. This proposal will develop for the first-time perovskite photovoltaics with self-healing capabilities while decreasing lead leakage to near zero, by transferring the microconcentrator PV concept to MHP.Such a configuration enables to save 90 to 99% raw materials compared to a planar device. More importantly, it increases the theorical efficiency and reduces the Pb content and leakage.So, the main goal of this proposal is to boost the stability of lead halide perovskite PV systems by introducing microconentrator PV concept and concentrated light to MHP in addition to taking advantages of microconcentrator PV i.e., physical separation and embedding of each microcell, to enable the PV system to theoretically exceed the Shockley–Queisser limit and reduce toxic lead levels to below RoHS requirements.SHERPA’s achievements will make advancements on cutting edge MHPsolar cells that are pivotal to reach EU’s environmental targets for a reliable and green energy transition at low-cost.

Impact

According to the scientific impacts mentioned above, alternative low-cost substrates (PCB-like) may be utilized, without any heat sink and thermal stresses on the solar cell which would reduces the die attach. The current generated at each cell is much lower as well; therefore, series resistance losses can be reduced via taking advantage of the larger freedom in series/parallel interconnections (very-high voltage modules are a possibility). A cost study done by Sandia Labs predicted a 0.5 $/W-peak using 25% efficient solar cells and concentrating with 100X suns. Sandia also concluded that the cost could even be reduced further using cells with efficiencies between 40-50%. A final point that has to be considered is the optics, which increases production costs. Clearly, the positive lab demonstration of SHERPA’s concept is expected to spur innovation in the PV sector to tackle such issues at a large scale32