Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Elucidating fullerene-perovskite interactions by means of First-principles calculations: Towards a rational design of low cost solar cells

Project description

Computational chemistry sheds light on the intricacies of fullerene-perovskite interactions

Carbon has long played a starring role in chemistry and biology thanks to its ability to be functionalised at four different bond sites. More recently, molecules made solely of carbon have entered the spotlight. Fullerenes are relatively large all-carbon molecules (more than 60 carbon atoms) that form closed cages or cylinders. In the last few years, their interactions with perovskites, one of the most promising materials for next-generation solar cells, has received growing attention. Fullerene_PSC will apply advanced computational chemistry methods to significantly enhance understanding of these interactions. It could lead to the rational design of solar cells with record-breaking efficiencies at prices that do not break the bank.

Objective

Science is essential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals implemented in the European Agenda 2030 towards the use of sustainable and clean energy. Solar energy, as the cleanest and the largest exploitable resource of energy, can potentially meet the growing requirements for the whole world’s energy needs beyond fossil fuels. Halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are considered as one of the most promising candidates for the next generation solar cells as their power conversion eciency (PCE) has rapidly increased up to 25.2%.
With the goal to boost their commercialization, Fullerenes and derivatives have been introduced in PSC devices to improve the stability, suppress the hysteresis, and reduce the high temperatures commonly used to fabricate these devices. Developing novel fullerene derivatives for improving further the PCE and stability of PSCs is still highly desirable yet challenging. Nevertheless, it is not extensively explored the role of fullerene derivatives in PSC devices and it is still not thoroughly investigated how binding groups of fullerenes interact with perovskite surface and their influence in the electron mobility.
In this project, the state-of-the-art computational chemistry will be used to understand the fullerene-perovskite interactions with the goal to rationally design new fullerene derivatives to improve the stability and efficiency of PSC devices. Density functional calculations will be employed to investigate the fullerene orientation on perovskite surfaces, binding energy, bandgap, the exciton delocalization and charge transfer in the fullerene-perovskite complexes in order to establish descriptors and correlations with the experimental data. The descriptors will be used to predict the preferred functionalization of fullerenes in order to conscientiously design the fullerene derivatives for PSC devices in order to take a step forward towards the future commercialization of these low-cost solar cell devices.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

UNIVERSITAT DE GIRONA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 160 932,48
Address
PLACA SANT DOMENEC 3
17004 GIRONA
Spain

See on map

Region
Este Cataluña Girona
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 160 932,48
My booklet 0 0