perovskite solar cell

An international group of researchers has achieved the highest fill factor reported for perovskite cells of any size to date. The device was fabricated with a nitrogen-doped titanium oxide (TiOxNy) electron transport layer aimed at improving charge transport between the cell’s perovskite absorber and the electrodes.

The module was fabricated with methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) perovskite solar cells via low-cost spin coating. The panel also achieved an open-circuit voltage of 16.07 V, a short-circuit current of 69.52 mA, and a fill factor of 75.35%.

Italian and Iranian researchers have developed the new “deposition via an antisolvent-soaked applicator” technique, which they describe as an easily scalable process to produce uniform, pinhole-free perovskite films. They tested the process on a 6.7%-efficient solar cell based on a polyethylene terephthalate substrate, raising its power conversion efficiency by 82%.

Scientists at the Technische Universität Dresden, in Germany, have found that photon recycling and light scattering effects greatly improve light emission in perovskite solar cells, thereby boosting the upper limit for their efficiency to 31.3%.

The solar-powered electronic shelf labels are intended for use in retail stores. Users are enabled to change prices centrally and synchronously across all retail stores within a chain.

The Solliance consortium has built a solar cell in a four-terminal tandem configuration that combines a 17.8%-efficient highly near-infrared transparent perovskite cell with a prototype of an 11.4%-efficient c-Si interdigitated back contact silicon heterojunction cell developed by Panasonic.

An Indian research group has built a perovskite cell that has a metal contact based on copper, instead of expensive gold. The device showed almost the same efficiency as a cell developed with gold metallization but its stability was much lower. In order to overcome this issue, the scientists suggest using a metal contact made of a thin layer of gold and a thicker, overlying copper layer.

Developed by Australian scientists, the demonstrated system is claimed to achieve a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 20% at a levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) of $4.10/kg. The direct solar hydrogen generation technology is powered by a tandem perovskite-silicon solar cell with an unprecedented high open-circuit voltage of 1.271 V, and a power conversion efficiency of 24.3%.

The solar cell was manufactured with crystals that were grown directly onto indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates covered with hole transport layer (HTL). These substrates have a controlled thickness of tens of micrometers and area of tens of mm2. The device showed an efficiency of 17.8%, a short-circuit current of 21.0 mA cm−2, an open-circuit voltage to 1.08 V, and a fill factor to 78.6%.

The solar cell was fabricated with a special polymer that is able to passivate defects at the grain boundaries and interfacial surfaces, inhibit nonradiative recombination and charge-transport loss, and improve stabilities under moisture. The device exhibited a remarkable fill factor, of 0.862.