{"id":43547,"date":"2026-10-22T09:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T13:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/?p=43547"},"modified":"2026-10-22T09:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T13:55:11","slug":"san-diego-solar-cells-efficiency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/san-diego-solar-cells-efficiency\/43547\/","title":{"rendered":"San Diego solar cells reached 24\u201326% efficiency using briefly melted salts and retained power after eight weeks of simulated sunlight"},"content":{"rendered":"

UC San Diego scientists devised a temporary salt-melting technique to heal defects in solar cell structure<\/strong> during a laboratory production process.<\/p>\n

Crystal formation occurs through the mixing of zinc bromide and methylammonium chloride in a low-temperature liquid state.<\/p>\n

The temporary liquid state eliminates the tiny energy traps<\/strong> that show up within the semiconductor material.<\/p>\n

Test solar cells demonstrated an efficiency rate of 24 to 26 percent energy conversion efficiency.<\/p>\n

Liquid eutectic solutions that fill microscopic crystal interface boundaries<\/h2>\n

Halide perovskite films formed through the salt solution process feature small crystal grains in the glass substrates.<\/p>\n

The area between two crystals has structural defects that inhibit the flow of electrical charges<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Zinc bromide was mixed with methylammonium chloride in a liquid precursor to help in the formation of solar cells.<\/p>\n

The heating of the mixture resulted in a temporary molten salt phase<\/strong> that surrounded individual crystal boundaries.<\/p>\n

Covering the crystals with molten salt allowed misplaced atoms to move around and create perfect crystalline structures.<\/p>\n

As a result of the liquid boundary, crystals developed perfect interfaces<\/strong> during the crystallization stage.<\/p>\n

Evaporating salt additives make crystal boundaries permanent<\/h2>\n

The application of heat led to the continuous evaporation of volatile methylammonium chloride salt from the baking membrane.<\/p>\n

This process resulted in instantaneous transformation of the surrounding molten material into an organized crystal form<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Zinc ions were left concentrated at the crystal edges and occupied the empty electronic traps within grain interfaces.<\/p>\n

X-ray imaging recorded the instant the boundaries transformed from ordered solids into liquid phases and back again<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The simultaneous processes of melting and evaporation occurred at a constant temperature during the entire process of heating.<\/p>\n

Eliminating flaws at the grain boundary level<\/strong> means continuous pathways can be created that transport photo-generated electrical current straight to collection contacts.<\/p>\n

New levels of performance: Breaking conversion efficiency records in the lab<\/h2>\n

Electrons captured in unpassivated perovskite films generate heat from sunlight instead of producing electricity.<\/p>\n

The liquid eutectic process ensured that grain boundary traps did not cause premature charge recombination<\/strong> in the active photovoltaic material.<\/p>\n

In the lab tests, it was found that the power conversion efficiency was in the range of 24 to 26 percent under standard simulated sunlight.<\/p>\n

No defects<\/strong> were detected.<\/p>\n

Treated perovskite films<\/a> showed consistent chemical behavior in line with laboratory performance expectations.<\/p>\n

Blocking electrical conduction through grain boundaries boosts the voltage produced by sunlight<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Close-up of the fusion of two perovskite single crystals via melting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maintenance of power generation during various light tests<\/h2>\n

Untreated perovskite solar cells are degraded very quickly because the grain boundaries absorb moisture from the surrounding environment.<\/p>\n

Defects present in microscopic traps cause faster chemical decomposition<\/strong>, and hence it is not possible to sustain the efficiency of the solar cells<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the case of liquid-grown perovskite films, the dense packing of crystals helped prevent the breakdown of internal semiconductor layers.<\/p>\n

Dense packing of crystals helped inhibit the chemical process when exposed to extended lighting<\/strong>, according to the University of California San Diego<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The small solar cells maintained the same power output that they had when they were initially generated despite being exposed to simulated sunlight for eight weeks.<\/p>\n

According to Princeton University<\/a><\/span>, prevention of structural degradation<\/strong> indicates that the temporary liquid processing method solves perovskite operation stability problems.<\/p>\n

Liquid salt synthesis for commercial use in panel production<\/h2>\n

The laboratory experiments confirm that the small-scale liquid salt treatment can be used on samples.<\/p>\n

Uniformity is required for big pieces of glass for industrial manufacturing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Chemical engineers need to monitor the precise speed of evaporation to prevent crystal imperfections.<\/p>\n

Non-uniform salt distribution while heating may result in some performance decline along the edges<\/strong> of industrial panels.<\/p>\n

Large-scale manufacturing trials are currently investigating ways to apply liquid salt technology in automated production equipment.<\/p>\n

Perfecting large-scale liquid crystal techniques<\/strong> will determine whether high-performance perovskite solar modules are adopted into the market<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UC San Diego scientists devised a temporary salt-melting technique to heal defects in solar cell structure during a laboratory production process. Crystal formation occurs through the mixing of zinc bromide and methylammonium chloride in a low-temperature liquid state. The temporary liquid state eliminates the tiny energy traps that show up within the semiconductor material. Test … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":43600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"solar","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43547"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43606,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43547\/revisions\/43606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}