From left are Sushil Shivaji Sangale, Kwon Sung-nam and Na Seok-in / Courtesy of Jeonbuk National University
A team of researchers from Jeonbuk National University, DGIST and Sungkyunkwan University has developed a new type of solar panel that is both highly efficient and eco-friendly. They are professors Sushil Shivaji Sangale, Kwon Sung-nam and Na Seok-in.
These solar panels are made from a material called perovskite, which is considered a promising alternative to traditional silicon due to its lower cost and higher efficiency. However, until now, making perovskite solar cells has required toxic chemicals and has been difficult to scale up to larger sizes without losing performance.
To solve these problems, the researchers created a new kind of liquid “ink” used to manufacture the solar panels. This ink works like a printable coating that forms the light-absorbing layer of the solar cell. In older methods, a harmful chemical called DMF was commonly used, but the team replaced it with a safer alternative called DMSO. They also added a small amount of iodobenzene, a special ingredient which helps the material form more evenly.
One of the most important parts of making solar cells is how the material solidifies and forms tiny crystal structures. If this process is uneven, the solar panel becomes less efficient. The new ink allows the researchers to carefully control how the material forms, resulting in a smoother and more uniform structure that improves performance.
Using this method, the team achieved an efficiency of 22.3 percent, meaning the solar panel can convert over 22 percent of sunlight into electricity, which is very high for this type of technology.
Just as importantly, the panels maintained strong performance even when scaled up, reaching 21 percent efficiency in smaller modules and 19.5 percent in larger ones. This is significant because many experimental solar technologies work well only at small scales but lose efficiency when expanded.
The researchers say this work demonstrates that it is possible to create solar panels that are efficient, eco-friendly and suitable for large-scale production at the same time. This advancement could help reduce the use of toxic chemicals, lower manufacturing costs and bring next-generation solar energy technology closer to everyday use.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.

source