Photovoltaic materials usually work well with onlycertain wavelengths of sunlight. Which wavelengths work best depends on what thematerials are made from. Lead-based perovskite crystals work well in the deep-redto near-infrared range. Joe Berry is a physicist at NREL He and others knew tin-based perovskites. .
The team also tested multi-layered solar panels.One layer was made from the improved tin-based crystals. A second, lead-basedlayer was most. .
But big challenges still remain. “The biggestroadblock,” says Moore, is their lifetime. Most silicon solar panels now last20 years or more. Perovskite solar cells are not so hardy. Moisture, oxygendamage and other.
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