Final Report Summary - MESOLIGHT (Mesoscopic Junctions for Light Energy Harvesting and Conversion)
The goal of the MESOLIGHT project was to study mesoscopic photosystems that produce electricity or chemical fuels from sunlight. Thanks to the support by the ERC we were able to increase the solar to electric power conversion efficiency (PCE) of mesoscopic solar cells from 11% to over 18 %. Our research focused on dye sensitized solar cells and perovskite solar cells which employ mesoporous titanita scaffolds to extract electrons generated by photo-excitation of the light harvesting material, i.e. a molecular sensitizer(dye) or a metal halide perovskite pigment.
Mesoscopic photovoltaics have thus emerged as credible contenders to conventional p-n junction photovoltaics . Separating light absorption from charge carrier transport, dye sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were the first to use three-dimensional nanocrystalline junctions for solar electricity production, Under the MESOLIGHT project we have increased the PCE of DSCs from 11% to 13% in standard air mass 1.5 sunlight. Large-scale production and commercial sales of DSCs have meanwhile been launched on the multi-megawatt scale. Importantly, dye sensitized solar cells have engendered a new generation of photovoltaics based on ABX3 perovskite pigments where A stands for methylammonium or formamidinium cations, B for Pb(II) or Sn(II) and X for iodide or bromide. CH3NH3PbI3 and related pigments have emerged as powerful light harvesters enabling us to raise the power conversion efficiencies of mesoscopic photovoltaics to over 18% during the MESOLIGHT project. This exceeds by a large margin the PCE value of 15 % set as our main goal for the project We have also developed perovskite based mesoscopic photosystem that mimic natural photosynthesis in generating fuels. We have set a new record in this field by achieving the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen by sunlight with a solar to hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiency of 12.4 %.
Mesoscopic photovoltaics have thus emerged as credible contenders to conventional p-n junction photovoltaics . Separating light absorption from charge carrier transport, dye sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were the first to use three-dimensional nanocrystalline junctions for solar electricity production, Under the MESOLIGHT project we have increased the PCE of DSCs from 11% to 13% in standard air mass 1.5 sunlight. Large-scale production and commercial sales of DSCs have meanwhile been launched on the multi-megawatt scale. Importantly, dye sensitized solar cells have engendered a new generation of photovoltaics based on ABX3 perovskite pigments where A stands for methylammonium or formamidinium cations, B for Pb(II) or Sn(II) and X for iodide or bromide. CH3NH3PbI3 and related pigments have emerged as powerful light harvesters enabling us to raise the power conversion efficiencies of mesoscopic photovoltaics to over 18% during the MESOLIGHT project. This exceeds by a large margin the PCE value of 15 % set as our main goal for the project We have also developed perovskite based mesoscopic photosystem that mimic natural photosynthesis in generating fuels. We have set a new record in this field by achieving the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen by sunlight with a solar to hydrogen (STH) conversion efficiency of 12.4 %.