Imaging Perovskite Materials At The Atomic Scale Using Synchrotron X-ray Scanning Tunneling Microscopy
Authors:
- Students:
- Taylor Holland (Tinley Park High School)
- Samuel Lezon (Tinley Park High School)
- Liam McGoldrick (Oak Forest High School)
- Jacob Moslander (Tinley Park High School)
- Dominic Rana (Tinley Park High School)
- Alexander Sebastian (Tinley Park High School)
- Jenna Skanberg (Tinley Park High School)
- Charles Wyllie (Tinley Park High School)
- Teachers:
- James Birrell (Tinley Park High School)
- Mentors:
- Volker Rose (Argonne National Laboratory, Advanced Photon Source, Center for Nanoscale Materials)
- Nozomi Shirato (Argonne National Laboratory, Advanced Photon Source, Center for Nanoscale Materials)
- Sarah Weighold (Argonne National Laboratory, Center for Nanoscale Materials)
Center for Nanoscale Materials
As population increases, and with the demand for solar energy greater than ever for developed countries, perovskite solar cells have the potential to be a less expensive and more efficient alternative to silicon solar cells.
Perovskites are not very stable and only last a year at most, whereas silicon solar cells can last for 25 years or more.
The purpose of this experiment is to try to understand the mechanisms of the degradation of perovskite solar cells under conditions that simulate their operation in the field. Using Synchrotron X-ray Scanning Tunneling Microscopy we monitored the electromagnetic configuration of the perovskite to look for potential degradation.