Scientists at Oxford University say two lead-free perovskites investigated for their potential to raise the efficiency of solar modules – when used in tandem with high efficiency silicon cells – may also offer a leap forward in solar storage technology.
In a paper published in Applied Physics Letters, Feliciano Giustino and George Volonakis, suggest halide double perovskites Cs2BiAgCl and Cs2BiAgBr6 may be strong candidates to drive photocatalysis – the process of harnessing solar power to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen so the two elements can be recombined in a fuel cell to release energy.
According to an article on the EurekAlert! science news website, the paper’s co-authors hypothesize the two perovskites would be much more efficient at photocatalysis than the titanium dioxide (TiO2) currently being investigated, because they absorb visible light better and thus could offer a route to commercially viable photocatalysis.
However the physicists warn their computational modelling needs to be tested under laboratory conditions, for instance the perovskites would have to form perfect crystals to offer a viable solar storage solution.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.