Nanoseminar in Chemistry & Materials 

Speaker: Prof. Francesca Brunetti, CHOSE- Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy, Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

Abstract: Flexible perovskite solar cells (f-PSCs) have recently reached power conversion efficiency (PCE) as high as 20.7%. Although still lagging behind their rigid counterparts on glass, which in very short time have achieved 25.7% of certified efficiency, the use of flexible substrates opens up to a wide range of applications, from sensors for the Internet of Things, to the retrofitting of existing buildings to improve their energy efficiency (building-applied PV), to space, thanks above all to the high power/to weight ratio generated which is the range of 29.4 W/g compared to 8.31 W/g for amorphous silicon and 0.254 W/g for ultra-thin CdS / CdTe.

For IoT applications, the integration of f-PSCs with flexible storage system is required to overcome the discontinuous illumination. In literature, the integration of the two devices has been demonstrated only on rigid substrates, with a maximum operating voltage of 0,84 V when the supecap is charged by a single solar cell.

In this presentation, the fabrication of flexible perovskite devices will be reported focussing in particular on the role of the scaling up of the realization process from solar cells to module which allowed the FPSMs to deliver 12% PCE and negligible hysteresis on 16.8 cm2 and 11.7% PCE on 21.8 cm2 active area.

Printed supercapacitors realized with environmentally friendly with will be presented both with a vertical and planar architecture which achieved a maximum specific power density above 20 µW cm-2. A possible strategy for the integration of the two devices will be also shown highlighting the critical issues in the final assembly of the two systems.

BIO: Prof. Francesca Brunetti, FRSC, received her PhD in Telecommunications and Microelectronics from the University of Rome Tor Vergata in 2005. In 2005, she was awarded of a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship spent in the Institute for Nanoelectronics of the Technical University of Munich, Germany. In 2006 she became researcher in the Department of Electronic Engineering of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, and since 2018, she is associated professor at the same Department.

Cofounder of the Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy at the University of Rome Tor Vergata (CHOSE, www.chose.it) her current research is focused on the analysis, design and manufacture of electronic and optoelectronic devices through the use of nanomaterials (carbon nanotubes and graphene), organic semiconductors and perovskites realized on rigid and flexible substrates. In particular, she is working third-generation organic solar cells on flexible substrates, graphene for application in organic solar cells, flexible perovskite solar cells and large area modules. Recently, she started an activity on the realization of supercapacitors on flexible and recyclable substrates, among which paper. Coordinator of several national and international projects, she authored more than 110 Paper and 6 patents. She is Associated Editor of “Sustainable Energy and Fuels” a Royal Society of Chemistry Journal focused on renewables.

After the seminar, a coffee service will be available at the room for attendees.