(From left: Prof. Yongseok Jun, Doctoral student Yohan Ko and Master's degree student Chanyong Lee)
The research team of Professor Yongseok Jun of Energy Engineering College, Konkuk Institute of Technology, reported the effect of relative humidity and thermal equilibrium on perovskite crystal formation during the production of 'perovskite' solar cell, the next generation solar cell.The result of this study was published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A (IF 9.931), the top international journal of materials science and energy, and also selected as back cover articles. (Title: Dew point temperature as an invariant replacement for solar cell fabrication systems for advanced perovskite)
The perovskite solar cell, which is regarded as a next generation solar cell, undergoes a crystallization step by heat treatment after forming a perovskite thin film by a solution process. Therefore, the quality of the perovskite film is determined by factors influencing crystal formation during the heat treatment process.
Professor Yongseok Jun and his research team have reported the effect of thermal equilibrium of water and atmospheric temperature on the formation of perovskite polycrystalline thin films during the heat treatment process. The research team found that the shape, crystallinity and orientation of the perovskite polycrystalline thin films differ depending on the difference in atmospheric thermal equilibrium, which directly affects the photoelectric conversion efficiency of the perovskite solar cell. In addition, it is suggested that a highly efficient perovskite solar cell with excellent reproducibility can be produced by controlling the atmospheric thermal equilibrium.
Professor Jun said that "this research will help to improve the process reproducibility of the perovskite solar cell by discovering and defining the process variables that have not been revealed in the process of producing the perovskite solar cell."
The research involved a doctoral student, Yohan Ko and a student at Master's degree, Chanyong Lee as a co-author. This research was supported by the Korea Research Foundation’s support for researchers in the field, development of technology for countering climate change, and industrial core technology development projects of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.