seed projects

Russell Holmes, Eray Aydil, Laura Gagliardi: Lead-Free Perovskites for Sustainable, High Efficiency Photovoltaics

This seed supported by the National Science Foundation iSuperseed Program

This project aims ultimately at establishing organometal-halide perovskites as sustainable optoelectronic materials. Towards this end, Holmes, Aydil, and Gagliardi have targeted two specific goals. First, they will initiate research on methylammonium tin iodide, currently the most promising lead-free organometal-halide perovskite. They will integrate materials synthesis with PV assembly and characterization to establish synthesis-structure-property-performance relations for these promising materials. Recent studies using lead-based perovskites have left fundamental knowledge gaps in understanding the relations that connect synthesis to material properties, which in turn determine cell efficiency. Their goal is to advance understanding and thereby eliminate these gaps.

Second, they will use computational modeling to explore the suitability of not only methylammonium tin iodide but also other sustainable nontoxic organometal-halide perovskites. The goal is to widen the palette of materials available for optoelectronic devices. They will predict optimum candidate materials using a combination of quantum chemical calculation with search algorithms to explore sequences with particularly promising target properties. Preliminary experiments will be used as further input for additional theoretical investigation.

Funded by the National Science Foundation through the University of Minnesota MRSEC under Award Number DMR-1420013