Comments on: New Class Of Solar Cell Reaches New Efficiency Breakthrough

By: eject

eject — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:54:00 +0000

Perovskite describes a crystal structure. It is one of the most common structures found in naturally occurring minerals. However, solid state chemist are making there own Perovskites since decades, they can constitute of elements which do not occur in a perovskite-type crystal in nature. Which is actually the fun bit in being a solid state chemist, making natures structures out of other stuff. Those perovskites can have all sorts of properties an apart from the structure they don’t have much in common with the ones you can find in your back yard.

By: JamesWimberley

JamesWimberley — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:59:00 +0000

15.4% is better than current production thin-film PV. The key material, perovskite, is described as "common" on WebMineral. If you can't dig it up, there's always chemical engineering.Titanium dioxide is the white in standard white paint, and manufactured in large quantities - over 6m tonnes a year. Snaith's hopes of cheapness look realistic.

By: Leland

Leland — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:17:00 +0000

I am confused by the last paragraph. Are you saying that not using TiO2 makes for more efficiency and stability or that TiO2 usually does that and these cells do it in another way? If so how?