The Perovskite-Info newsletter (March 21, 2023)

Researchers at France's National Solar Energy Institute (INES) – a division of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) – and Italian renewables specialist Enel Green Power have reportedly developed a two-terminal tandem perovskite-silicon solar cell with a power conversion efficiency of 26.5%. 

The scientists said the new result improves on the 25.8% efficiency they achieved for the same kind of cell in December 2022. “The device with an active area of 9 cm² has an open-circuit voltage above 1,880 mV,” CEA-INES said, noting that the improvement on the device, which is based on a p-i-n configuration, was also due to “shading correction.” No additional technical details were disclosed.

A team of scientists at Swansea University has used a combination of a low-temperature device structure and roll-to-roll-compatible solution formulations to make a fully roll-to-roll (R2R) printable device architecture overcoming interlayer incompatibilities and recombination losses.

A sample of the new fully roll-to-roll (R2R) coated device. Credit: Swansea University (from Techxplore)

This means that using slot die coating in a R2R process, the team from the SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Center at Swansea University has established a way to create "fully printable" perovskite photovoltaics.

Scientists from Germany’s Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and HTW Berlin have examined how precursor inks influence the quality of perovskite thin films. The best cells were scaled up to minimodule size. The team showed that when slot-die coating the halide perovskite layers on large areas, ribbing effects may occur but can be prevented by adjusting the precursor ink's rheological properties.

Prof. Dr. Eva Unger's team at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin has extensive expertise in solution-based processing methods and is investigating options for upscaling. "Perovskite photovoltaics is the best solution-processable PV technology available," says Eva Unger, "but we are only just beginning to understand how the complex interaction of the solvent components affects the quality of the perovskite layers."

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers have joined forces with Swedish building-integrated PV (BIPV) module manufacturer, Midsummer, on a project that has yielded a four-terminal (4T) tandem solar cell based on a top cell made of perovskite and a bottom cell relying on copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS).

The joint project between Midsummer and Prof. Yang's lab at UCLA resulted in a four-terminal perovskite-CIGS tandem solar cell, based on a commercial CIGS solar cell,  that reached 24.9 percent efficiency. The solar cell was based on a perovskite top cell that has been optimized for integration with Midsummer’s CIGS cells that are utilized in their commercial suite of BIPV products.

Scientists from Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden), AMOLF, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz have transformed single-cell algae into functional perovskite materials. The team, led by scientists at the B CUBE—Center for Molecular Bioengineering at TU Dresden, converted mineral shells of algae into lead halide perovskites with tunable physical properties. The new perovskites have unique nano-architectures that are said to be unachievable by conventional synthetic production.

The method can be applied to the mass production of perovskites with tunable structural and electro-optical properties from single-celled organisms. 

TNO, in cooperation with Dutch and German industrial partners, is advancing a perovskite/silicon tandem solar module suitable for early market introduction. 

FIT4Market, a four-year research project supported by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), will help drive CO₂ reduction through to 2030, supporting national climate objectives. It is also a step towards bringing PV production back to Europe and rebuilding a competitive PV supply chain.