Spain. The record of energy efficiency in solar cells based on titanium oxide, as an alternative to conventional silicon-based ones has been achieved by researchers from the University of La Rioja, the University of Alicante and the Madrid Institute of Advanced Studies (IMDEA materials).
In the case of the University of La Rioja and the University of Alicante, researchers have developed and patented the technology that allows the preparation of active titanium oxides under visible light for application in photocatalysis and solar cells.
In collaboration with researchers from the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies (IMDEA materials) it has been possible to integrate these materials into the electrodes of solar cells that contain light-sensitive compounds and whose electrodes are prepared by low temperature heat treatment (low temperature solar cells, lt-DSSC).
The arrangement of a layer of the new hybrid material on an electrode with a mixture of commercial titania P25 Degussa and titania nanoparticles achieves an efficiency of 8.75%, the highest obtained to date in this type of solar cells. Until now, only 6.6% efficiency levels have been obtained.
This advance is an alternative to traditional silicon-based solar cells due to its lower cost, greater ease of processing and recycling, as well as its versatility.
These new cells respond to the need to replace glass substrates with flexible (plastic) ones of light weight, which can be bent, are printable and adapt to any surface.
In this sense, they could function as small-scale power generation units for applications both inside buildings (electronic devices, lighting, etc.) and outside: car roofs, tiles of a building or their integration into clothing to supply energy to portable electronic devices, among others.
In this project are involved, on the one hand, the Group of Organometallic Molecular Materials of the University of La Rioja (UR) -Elena Lalinde and Jesús Berenguer-, the Molecular Nanotechnology Laboratory of the University of Alicante (UA) -Javier García Martínez, Marisa Rico Santacruz and Elena Serrano Torregrosa-; and, on the other, Rubén D. Costa, from the Madrid Institute of Advanced Studies (IMDEA Materials).
Source: University of Alicante.
