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Materials science

Fast-track solar cells

Nature volume 501, pages 323–325 (2013)Cite this article

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The ultimate goal of the solar-cell industry is to make inexpensive devices that are highly efficient at converting sunlight into electricity. The advent of perovskite semiconductors could be the key to reaching this goal. See Letter p.395

After the discovery of a new semiconductor, it has always taken numerous teams of researchers more than ten years to figure out how to use it to make solar cells that convert sunlight into power with greater than 15% efficiency. Liu and colleagues' report1 on page 395 of this issue is therefore truly remarkableFootnote 1. They describe cells that have slightly greater than 15% conversion efficiency, and which are based on perovskites, a class of semiconductor material still in its infancy for this application. This follows hot on the heels of another Nature paper by Burschka et al.2, who in July reported a perovskite-containing solar cell that reached the 15% conversion milestone. The fact that multiple teams are making such rapid progress suggests that the perovskites have extraordinary potential, and might elevate the solar-cell industry to new heights.

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Figure 1: Solar-power generator in Tokyo.

TOMOHIRO OHSUMI/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

Notes

  1. *This article and the paper under discussion1 were published online on 11 September 2013.

References

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  1. Michael D. McGehee is in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-4045, USA.,

    Michael D. McGehee

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  1. Michael D. McGehee
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Correspondence to Michael D. McGehee.

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McGehee, M. Fast-track solar cells. Nature 501, 323–325 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12557

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