Abstract

Saving the planet from environmental meltdown would be a lot easier if it weren’t so expensive.

The sun is big and powerful, hence converting the sun’s energy directly into electricity has always appealed to us. We will need photovoltaic technologies to provide some portion of our energy in the coming years if we are to make any kind of progress towards meaningful targets in sustainability. ‘Third generation’ solar technologies embody the current scientific effort to reduce cost and increase the efficiency of new types of solar panels. In our quest for the lowest dollar-per-Watt ratio, scientists have come up with an extraordinary and creative assortment of new structures and scientific advances.

This talk will give an overview of some of these remarkable technologies – polymer solar cells, quantum dot solar cells, dye-sensitised solar cells, for example. In particular, I will recount my most recent work on the fundamental physics of the rising star in this field, the perovskite solar cell, and explain how its working mechanisms can be illuminated through the use of ultrafast femtosecond transient absorption.