Transparent photovoltaics (TPV) possesses a huge untapped potential in the harvesting of solar energy where it readily can be embedded in buildings applications worldwide to significant reduce CO2 emissions, and support the needed development of nearly zero-energy buildings. TPV will increase the utilization of renewable energy directly where it is needed, and play a crucial role for the sustainable transformation of the energy sector in large cities. Using conventional photovoltaics, however, it is not possible to fabricate TPV elements without severe losses in efficiency and/or visual light transmittance. In the CITYSOLAR project, a new breakthrough concept for TPV will be developed by exploiting the combined use of emerging technologies, namely multi-junction solar modules developed from near-ultraviolet perovskite and near-infrared organic solar cells. Using advanced concepts within light management such as photonic crystals, nanophotonics and photon recycling and advanced module integration schemes, CITYSOLAR will radically change performance limits for TPV by significantly reducing losses related to light absorption and scale-up from individual solar cells to multi-junction modules. The consortium will develop highly efficient and transparent solar cells and modules to increase the performance of available TPV technologies by 50%, and via innovative integration schemes present a route for its use in building integrated PV (BIPV) applications. This represents a strategic sector for Europe and an opportunity to accelerate and reduce the cost of the next generation of sustainable renewable energy technologies.

More info at: CITYSOLAR

Over recents years hybrid halide perovskites have attracted strong interest in the solar cell community as a result of their high-power conversion efficiency and the opportunity to realise a low-cost as well as industry-scalable technology. Nevertheless, most of the progress has been through empirical device improvements, and a number of key questions still remain unanswered. Open issues include the optimal chemical composition of the materials, ion migration, scalable fabrication routes, device architecture and stability in operation. The goal of PROPHET is to directly relate the optoelectronic behaviour of metal halide perovskites to their chemical and morphological properties by investigating their photophysics on a range of different length and time scales. New approaches in the characterisation of the materials will be used in the action, leading to a deep understanding of the carrier transport and recombination processes. The host lab is at the forefront of the development of advanced characterisation methods for optoelectronic devices, particularly solar cells, with an outstanding expertise on hyperspectral luminescence and time resolved fluorescence imaging, which will be extensively used during the action. To further expand the capabilities of luminescence images datasets signal will be treated by multivariate statistical analysis, with the aim of identifying possible correlations between different features within the material. This innovative approach is expected to provide new insights and a more detailed and comprehensive knowledge about the local optoelectronics properties of halide perovskites. These techniques in combination with chemical and morphological characterisation methods will be used to investigate degradation processes under operational condition and the issues raised by the scaling-up of the cells. The results of the action are thus expected to gain insight and better guidelines for the right material choices as well as film processing.