Solliance, a partnership of R&D organizations from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany working on thin film photovoltaic solar energy, recently demonstrated on industrially-applicable roll-to-roll processes for the production of solar cells achieving a record 12.6% conversion efficiency on cell level. This result allows for an accelerated market introduction of this attractive new source of renewable energy.

The roll-to-roll (R2R) process was developed for both the electron transport and the perovskite layers on the new Solliance dual R2R coating line. The in-line roll-to-roll coating, drying, and annealing processes were executed at a linear speed of 5m/min on a 30-cm wide commercial PET/ITO foil and under ambient conditions. All process steps on this roll-to-roll line were performed using low-cost materials while keeping the process temperatures below 120 ⁰C, which is indicative of the production potential of this new emerging thin film PV technology.

Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and their partners are creating innovative 2D layered hybrid perovskites that they say can allow greater freedom in designing and fabricating efficient optoelectronic devices. Industrial and consumer applications could include low cost solar cells, LEDs, laser diodes, detectors, and other nano-optoelectronic devices.

They explain that these materials are layered compounds, or a stack of 2D layers of perovskites with nanometer thickness (like a stack of sheets), and the 2D perovskite layers are separated by thin organic layers. "This work could overturn conventional wisdom on the limitations of device designs based on layered perovskites", the team says.

Microquanta Semiconductor, a China-based thin-film PV firm, has announced a new efficiency record for perovskite mini-modules: 15.24%, certified by Newport PV Lab in Montana, US. The tested mini-module has an aperture size of more than 16 cm².

Microquanta said that by passing the 15% efficiency milestone for the first time, it has moved significantly closer towards commercialization of perovskite solar cells. It also claimed that perovskite mini-modules are desirable since they can reduce the manufacturing cost of current c-Si based solar cells by between 60-80%.