Technology Licensing View

Researchers at the University of South Florida have invented a solar cell that employs the piezoelectric effect to enhance the energy conversion efficiencies.

The two main challenges in the development of better solar cell technologies are the cost and the energy conversion efficiency of the devices. To address these challenges, different materials and structures have been tested over the past few decades. In order to achieve high energy conversion efficiency in a device, inventors focus on the energy levels in the Electron Transport Layer (ETL), the energy barrier between ETL, and the photoactive layer.

In thin-film and electrochemical solar cells, the energy barrier at the interface between different layers is a limiting bottle -neck for efficient charge collection in the devices. To achieve high efficiency, innovators are engineering new materials and interfaces. However, changing the materials and structures can affect the overall performance of the device.