NEW ADAMANTINE PV MATERIALS

To take PV technology past the PCE of conventional single junction silicon cells, the team at UNSW are on the hunt for new materials that can be stacked on top of silicon to form higher efficiency, tandem solar cells. Adamantine compounds are a family of materials that are particularly well suited for use in photovoltaics, due to their favourable chemical structure and energy band gap. The challenge lies in finding compounds whose constituent elements are stable, abundant and non-toxic. Our team is already leading the way in the investigation of one such material, CZTS. To further push the boundaries of PV research, we are searching for new, undiscovered adamantine compounds. Through supercomputer simulations, we have already identified several candidate compounds. The next steps involve reproducing these in our laboratories and studying their properties to better understand their suitability for use in solar cells. 

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