There’s no doubt many of us would struggle to get through the afternoon without a grande latte or shot of espresso to perk us up. And according to a study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), solar cells get a similar boost in performance by almost 20 per cent from a hit of caffeine.
Following an offhand comment made by one of the researchers mid-coffee break, the team decided to investigate the possibility of using caffeine to boost the performance of the perovskite solar cells they were working on.
Perovskite is a type of crystal with a specific kind of geometrical structure that can be created using inexpensive elements and used to produce solar cells that are cheaper to produce and more flexible than the more traditional method using silicon.
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Previous attempts to improve the efficiency of perovskite solar cells by introducing other compounds have all ended in failure but the team hit upon instant success when using caffeine.
“We were surprised by the results. During our first try incorporating caffeine, our perovskite solar cells already reached almost the highest efficiency we achieved in the paper,” said Wang. “Caffeine can help the perovskite achieve high crystallinity, low defects, and good stability. This means it can potentially play a role in the scalable production of perovskite solar cells.”
After investigating the internal structure of the solar cells, the team found that molecules within the caffeine bonded to lead atoms within the crystal, boosting the solar cell efficiency from 17 per cent to more than 20 per cent.
The team now plans to tweak the material further with the hope of producing even more efficient solar cells.
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