Understanding the Real-world Applications of Future Energy Technology for Undergraduate Students

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have garnered increasing attention as a promising photovoltaic technology. PSCs have shown rapid improvement in efficiency compared to other photovoltaic technologies, demonstrating their significantly high potential. Due to their desirable features, such as high-power conversion efficiency, being a solution-based technique, being lightweight, low cost, and flexible, PSCs are considered promising candidates for commercial applications. This article discusses the fundamentals of perovskite photovoltaics and their future scope through undergraduate students’ experiments. A group of undergraduate students deposited uniform films of each material using a spin-coating technique and annealing, and then analysed the resulting thin-film properties via X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and current–voltage measurements. The undergraduate students were able to fabricate simple PSC modules, and critically interpret and compare their results. They successfully fabricated highly efficient solar cell modules and achieved a power conversion efficiency of 9.10%. Further, they demonstrated a working model of smart traffic lights and smart windows by using the fabricated PSC module to understand the potential of PSCs in real-world applications.