In a groundbreaking development, a team of researchers led by Dartmouth Engineering has unveiled a new high-performance material for solar absorbers, heralding a significant advancement in renewable energy technology. The findings, published in the prestigious journal Joule, showcase a material that not only exhibits remarkable efficiency in converting light into electricity but also boasts exceptional stability and abundance.

The team, spearheaded by Dartmouth's Hodgson Family Associate Professor of Engineering, Geoffroy Hautier, employed a cutting-edge high-throughput computational screening method to expedite the discovery process. Remarkably, they evaluated approximately 40,000 known candidate materials, a feat unparalleled in the field of photovoltaics.

According to Hautier, "This is the first example in the field of photovoltaics where a new material has been found through this type of approach with an experimental follow-up. Most people study one or two materials at a time, and we looked at forty-thousand."

The study's primary author, Zhenkun Yuan, collaborated with co-authors from Dartmouth and eight other partner institutions, including research associate Yihuang Xiong, engineering PhD candidates Gideon Kassa and Andrew Pike, and engineering professors Hautier and Jifeng Liu.

The newfound solar absorber material not only exhibited promising efficiency in laboratory tests but also demonstrated exceptional stability in varying environmental conditions, including exposure to air and water. Hautier emphasizes its longevity, stating, "You can put it out for six months, and it will stay the same. When you don't have to worry about moisture and air contamination, that significantly reduces your costs."

Traditionally, the quest for new solar materials has been laborious and time-consuming, with a vast array of options to sift through. However, Hautier notes that their extensive database of known materials, both natural and synthetic, empowered them to rapidly screen and identify potential candidates. "We weren't able to screen for stability, but we could narrow it down to approximately twenty reasonable solar materials—among the thousands and thousands of possibilities—and after talking with our colleagues, we had a feeling this one would be stable," he explains.

Looking ahead, the team is committed to refining their screening tools and delving deeper into the broader family of materials, termed "Zintls," which could pave the way for further enhancements and optimizations. Collaboration, as emphasized by Liu, is paramount in this endeavor, bringing together diverse expertise spanning computation, experimentation, fabrication, characterization, and optimization.

While acknowledging that the material won't be commercially available overnight, Hautier remains optimistic about its potential, affirming, "We won't have it as a solar panel tomorrow, but we think this family of materials is exceptional and worth looking at."

This groundbreaking research is part of a broader initiative funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE) aimed at discovering new photovoltaic materials. Hautier and Liu's efforts received support from the DOE, which allocated over $540 million in awards for university- and National Laboratory-led research into clean energy technologies in 2022.

The discovery marks a significant milestone in the journey towards sustainable and efficient solar energy utilization, underscoring the pivotal role of innovation and collaboration in shaping a greener future.

Based on: https://engineering.dartmouth.edu