My precious

Post date: Sept. 30, 2019 8:51:12 PM

The first weeks after the summer break have been very exiting. I actually managed to built my first hybrid thermoelectric-photovoltaic device.

The process was pretty complicated. I firstly had to carefully characterize the perovskite solar cells that my collaborator sent me. In particular I needed to know their behavior versus temperature and their optical properties. I then used the results of this characterization in my theoretical model to design the TEG to be implemented with these solar cells. Once the optimal design was determined I cut the bismuth telluride wafers and built the TEG. Finally I characterized the TEG alone and together with the solar cell.

Some pictures of the device development are attached to this page.

The results were very good and I demonstrated that my strategy works. I successfully enhanced the solar cell efficiency getting to an efficiency of the hybrid device comparable to that of silicon at the same working temperature. The goal is now to demonstrate that this technology can beat silicon. I just came back from a conference were I showed these results and people looked very impressed by them. This was very stimulating for me.

The conference (European Conference on Thermoelectrics - ECT 2019) was great. I saw many interesting talks and I had the opportunity to talk with a lot of friends and colleagues. This year the conference was held in Limassol - Cyprus and location and the food were also splendid. It was a wonderful experience.

As soon as I got home, I also participated at the MEETmeTONIGHT, namely the italian version of the European Researchers' Night. In this occasion I had the pleasure to talk with people about my project. I was amazed to see that most of the people who I talked to, understood the idea behind the project. Most of them made interesting questions and were very supportive and talkative. I hope that next year I will manage to partecipate and show something more concrete, like a prototype of my technology.

This was pretty much all for the last two months. Now I have a long run towards the end of the year. It will be a full immersion period in the lab, looking to produce more interesting results.