The Old is Made New

This panel will consider old and new technologies, materials and processes of iron casting, mold making and foundry practice in the light of contemporary attitudes on environmental impacts. Are some of the old methods and practices of iron casting more environmentally “green” than contemporary practice

Simulation Studies of Sn-based Perovskites with Cu back-contact for Non-toxic and Non-corrosive Devices

Using general-purpose photovoltaic device model, we have simulated the operation and functionality of a working Sn perovskite/Cu2O hole transport layer (HTL)/Cu back-contact device versus a standard Pb perovskite/Spiro HTL/Ag back-contact device. The results are extremely promising in that they showcase comparable cell efficiencies, with the Sn perovskite/Cu2O HTL/Cu back-contact device showing a highest 22.9% efficiency [Jsc of 353.4 A/m2, Voc of 0.84 V, fill factor (FF) of 0.77] at 427 nm active layer thickness compared with 24.6% of the standard Pb perovskite/Spiro HTL/Ag back-contact device (Jsc of 356.8 A/m2, Voc of 0.82 V, FF of 0.84) at the same active layer thickness. Jsc, Voc, and FF kinetics reveal that the Sn perovskite/Cu2O HTL/Cu back-contact device can perform better by reducing the recombination centers both within each layer matrix and in the interfacial contacts

Numerical Simulation Studies of a Fully Inorganic Cs2AgBiBr6 Perovskite Solar Device

With perovskite solar cell (PSC) technology on the brink of commercialization, the use of lead and degradable components remain a concern. We have carried out simulation studies to explore a non-toxic and inorganic device utilizing Cs2AgBiBr6 as the active layer and Cu2O as the hole transport layer (HTL). A maximum power-conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.25% (open-circuit voltage Voc of 1.5V, short-circuit current Jsc of 11.45 mA/cm2, and fill factor FF of 42.1%) was obtained at an optimal perovskite layer thickness of 600 nm. Our investigation further reveals that with increasing perovskite thickness, as J0 (saturation current) decreases, Voc increases. By varying radiative recombination rate, we report out a maximum PCE of 8.11% at a 10X lower than usual rate. A conduction band offset of 0.1 eV between the TiO2 electron transport layer (ETL) and the active layer and a valence band offset of 0.35 eV between the active layer and the HTL produce optimal PCE values of 7.31% and 11.17% respectively. Lastly, we demonstrate that Cs2AgBiBr6 is more sensitive to defect density than the HTL and ETL by a factor of 100. Overall, our results are encouraging and insightful, providing guidance towards fabricating a non-toxic and inorganic perovskite solar device