This article is an extract from The Perovskite Handbook, 2020 edition, and explains the current market status of Perovskites Solar Panels.

Solar Panels is the most prominent potential perovskite application, as synthetic perovskites are recognized as inexpensive base materials for high-efficiency commercial photovoltaics. Perovskite PVs are constantly undergoing research and improvement, going from just 2% in 2006 to over 23% today, and constantly improving. Experts forecast that the market for perovskite PV will reach $214 million in 2025.

Power efficiency is obviously a key metric for solar power technologies. In this article we'll explain how solar system efficiency is defined and the current power efficiency market status of PSCs.

Researchers from Helmhotlz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), colalborating with teams from University of Cambridge, Eindhoven University of Technology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Salerno University and others, have developed a monolithic "two-terminal" tandem cell made of CIGS and perovskite that achieved a certified efficiency of 24.16%, with a thickness of well below 5 micrometers - which would allow the production of flexible solar modules.

Tandem cells combine two different semiconductors that convert different parts of the light spectrum into electrical energy. Metal-halide perovskite compounds mainly use the visible parts of the spectrum, while CIGS semiconductors convert rather the infrared light. CIGS cells, which consist of copper, indium, gallium and selenium, can be deposited as thin-films with a total thickness of only 3 to 4 micrometers; the perovskite layers are even much thinner at 0.5 micrometers.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge and Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), have identified the source of "deep traps", a known limitation of perovskite materials caused by a defect, or minor blemish, in the material.

"Deep traps" are areas in the material where energized charge carriers can get stuck and recombine, losing their energy to heat, rather than converting it into useful electricity or light. This recombination process can have a significant impact on the efficiency and stability of solar panels and LEDs.

Scientists at the University of Cambridge and Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), have identified the source of "deep traps", a known limitation of perovskite materials caused by a defect, or minor blemish, in the material.

"Deep traps" are areas in the material where energized charge carriers can get stuck and recombine, losing their energy to heat, rather than converting it into useful electricity or light. This recombination process can have a significant impact on the efficiency and stability of solar panels and LEDs.

Scientists have theorized that organometallic halide perovskites are so promising due to a highly controversial mechanism called the Rashba effect. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory have now experimentally proven the existence of the effect in bulk perovskites, using short microwave bursts of light to both produce and then record a rhythm, much like music, of the quantum coupled motion of atoms and electrons in these materials.

Research thus far hypothesized that the materials’ extraordinary electronic, magnetic and optical properties are related to the Rashba effect, a mechanism that controls the magnetic and electronic structure and charge carrier lifetimes. But despite intense study and debate, conclusive evidence of Rashba effects in bulk organometallic halide perovskites, used in the most efficient perovskite solar cells, remained highly elusive.