A new characterization tool was developed by a team of scientists, allowing them to gain unique insight into a possible alternative material for solar cells. They developed a microscope that uses terahertz waves to collect data on material samples. The team, from the Department of Energy’s Ames Nati
, working under the leadership of senior scientist Jigang Wang, then used their microscope to explore Methylammonium Lead Iodide perovskite, a material that could potentially replace silicon in solar cells.
Richard Kim, a scientist from Ames Lab, explained the two features that make the new scanning probe microscope unique. First, the microscope uses the terahertz range of electromagnetic frequencies to collect data on materials. This range is far below the visible light spectrum, falling between the infrared and microwave frequencies. Secondly, the terahertz light is shined through a sharp metallic tip that enhances the microscope’s capabilities toward nanometer-length scales.
“Normally if you have a light wave, you cannot see things smaller than the wavelength of the light you’re using. And for this terahertz light, the wavelength is about a millimeter, so it’s quite large,” explained Kim. “But here we used this sharp metallic tip with an apex that is sharpened to a 20-nanometer radius curvature, and this acts as our antenna to see things smaller than the wavelength that we were using.
Kim explained that conductive materials, like metals, would have a high-level of light scattering while less-conductive materials, like insulators, would not have as much. The wide variation of light scattering detected along the grain boundaries in MAPbIOver the course of a week, the team continued to collect data on the material, and data collected in that time showed the degradation process through changes in the levels of light scatterings.
“We believe that the present study demonstrates a powerful microscopy tool to visualize, understand and potentially mitigate grain boundary degradation, defect traps, and materials degradation,” said Wang. “Better understanding of these issues may enable developing highly efficient perovskite-based photovoltaic devices for many years to come.”were provided by the University of Toledo.
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