July 2021

Philipp Tockhorn from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) recently presented his team's work at the virtual OSA Advanced Photonics Congress (July 26th to 30th, 2021). In this new work, the researchers used simulation and experiments to illustrate that introducing a small nanoscale texturing on the surface of materials in perovskite or silicon tandem solar cells can raise the efficiency above 29%, by decreasing the amount of light energy lost by reflection.

The researchers presented nanotextured perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells that are on par with the best cells presented to date. These findings may contribute to the further development of highly efficient perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells and have the potential to further decrease the cost of solar electricity.

A team of researchers, led by the University of Sydney, have used a new approach that could be the key to producing low cost and environmentally friendly perovskite solar cells, while achieving a new efficiency milestone for these cells.

The researchers said they had made crucial improvements to the process of 'gas quenching' to fabricate perovskite thin films. The research team successfully demonstrated a steady-state conversion efficiency of 23.6%, which they claim is the highest efficiency achieved for perovskite solar cells produced using the 'gas quenching' technique.

Earlier this month, Oxford PV announced the completion of the build-out of its manufacturing site in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany. Oxford PV concluded that announcement by saying that "With the achievement of this factory milestone, Oxford PV has terminated its exclusive relationship with Meyer Burger".

Meyer Burger Technology was informed of the termination of partnership (in place since 2019) through the press release (as well as a letter from Oxford Photovoltaics). In view of the unexpected announcement of termination by Oxford PV, Meyer Burger is reportedly considering legal options to enforce its rights.

Oxford PV has announced that it has completed the build-out of its manufacturing site in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany.

The site houses the world's first volume manufacturing line for Oxford PV's innovative perovskite-on-silicon tandem solar cells with an annual target manufacturing capacity of 100 MW. Oxford PV expects the line to start full production in 2022.

University of Texas at Dallas researchers, led by Dr. Julia Hsu, have shown that a technique called photonic curing can be used to manufacture perovskite solar cells faster than other current methods.

Hsu's research aims to solve a problem that has impeded large-scale manufacturing of flexible electronics and solar panels: the need to reduce the amount of time for the slowest part of production, called annealing. In this stage, the thin film must be heated to high temperatures, a step that can sometimes take hours and make production costly.

A team of scientists at EPFL has come up with an efficient solution to the lead problem of perovskite solar cells, which involves using a transparent phosphate salt that does not block solar light and hence doesn't affect performance.

In case the solar panel fails, the phosphate salt immediately reacts with lead to produce a water-insoluble compound that cannot leach out to the soil, and which can be recycled.

University of Arizona scientists have developed a new printing process called Restricted Area Printing by Ink Drawing, or RAPID, and received a three-year, $700,000 grant from the Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to advance the method.

Adam Printz, an assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering at the University of Arizona, along with his team, started developing the perovskite printing process in late 2019, and they've been able to demonstrate on a small scale with 3D-printed parts how it works ' using 'whatever they had lying around in the lab.' This funding enables them to create a more reproducible and scalable version.

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and Northwestern Polytechnical University in China have fabricated an inverted perovskite solar cell based on a star-shaped polymer that can reportedly improve charge transport and inhibit ion migration at the perovskite interface.

Schematic diagram of the interaction between the PPP polymer (partial 3D structure) and perovskite. Image from ScienceAdvances

The cell has a 'p-i-n' layout and is based on a perovskite material known as CsMAFA modified with a polymer called polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-poly(trifluoroethyl methacrylate)-b-poly(methyl methacrylate) or simply PPP polymer.

Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science have identified a way to create Nickel oxide (NiO) films of sufficient quality in solution and at relatively low temperatures of less than 150 degrees Celsius.

NiO is used as an inexpensive hole-transport layer in perovskite solar cells because of its favorable optical properties and long-term stability. However, making high-quality NiO films for solar cells usually requires an energy intensive and high-temperature treatment process called thermal annealing, which is not only costly, but also incompatible with plastic substrates, until now precluding the use of NiO in the proposed manufacture of printed photovoltaics at commercial scale.

Update: according to our latest information, this investment did not go through

Japan-based Green Science Alliance, which develops next-generation technologies for use in energy as well as in other fields, has invested in a Kyoto University start-up focused on perovskite solar cell research ' EneCoat Technologies.

EneCoat is working on more efficient and durable perovskite cells while also looking to develop lead-free perovskite cells.