Long-term outdoor performance of a solar farm enabled by graphene-perovskite panels: investigating degradation mechanisms, dark storage recovery, and visual defects

Abstract

Outdoor performance monitoring of the emerging photovoltaic technologies, such as organic or perovskite solar modules, under real-life environmental conditions for an extended period will set the grounds for further technological maturity while revealing distinct characteristics compared to silicon or other commercial technologies. This study focuses on the long-term outdoor performance of a solar farm enabled by graphene-perovskite panels (S. Pescetelli, A. Agresti, G. Viskadouros et al., Nature Energy, 7, 597 (2022)). In this study, we investigated the solar farm's degradation mechanisms and a peculiar dark-storage recovery effect, as well as the light-soaking phenomenon that emerges after a dark-storage recovery process. The solar farm's performance was monitored over an extended period of time, and its performance was analyzed using a combination of electrical and optical characterization techniques. It was demonstrated that the key sources of solar farm degradation were exposure to high temperatures and solar irradiance while operating outdoors, as well as lamination failure due to aging that resulted in moisture and oxygen penetration. Notably, the visual defects observed in the perovskite modules during the performance monitoring period revealed severe effect of lamination failure on the graphene-perovskite solar farm performance degradation. The reported performance degradation was found to be partially restored after panels' dark storage indicating that both reversible and irreversible mechanisms are at play. A peculiar light-soaking phenomenon was also observed after the dark storage process, which led to partial performance recovery, indicating different behavioral trends after the dark storage of panels.