Manufacturing and Measurement of Solar Cells
Required Availability
The End of TimeCourse Credit?
Yes - ECE 399 - 017Paid Position?
NoPreferred Majors
Applied Physics | Chemical Engineering | Chemistry | Electrical Engineering | Manufacturing Engineering | Materials Metallurgical Engr | Mechanical Engineering | PhysicsFaculty
Dawen LiDescription
As a rising star, perovskite-based photovoltaics have been demonstrated to be the most promising solar technology for low-cost mass production through high-speed printing. The certified champion power-conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cells (PVSCs) has been boosted to 25.7%, which is on par with the best performance of dominating silicon solar cells. However, PVSCs still must overcome a few obstacles before becoming economically competitive in the photovoltaic market. The primary challenges include instability causing reduction in lifetimes and lengthy annealing times limiting the mass production. In this project, undergraduate students research fellow will work with graduate students and postdoctoral research fellows to explore and investigate slot-die coating and rapid photonic annealing and sintering of the stacking layers in a perovskite solar cell and solar modules. By working with faculty advisor and graduate students, undergraduate researchers will acquire firsthand observation of thin-film characterizations, such as Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) for thin film morphology, UV-Vis for absorption, and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) for film composition. In addition, students will also learn the operating principles of perovskite solar cells, including both perovskite semiconductor materials and physics behind semiconductor diodes. Because of the multidisciplinary nature of the project, undergraduate researchers from different majors, such as Physics, Chemistry, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering, are welcome to participate my research group projects and make contributions to advance technology development on perovskite-based photovoltaics.