The â¬5 million CHEOPS project, which officially started in February 2016, aims to develop very low cost but high performing photovoltaic devices based on perovskite technology. CHEOPS is led by Switzerland's Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique (CSEM) and co-funded by the European research and innovation program Horizon 2020. The project will run through January 2019. The list of partnering organizations includes also the University of Oxford, La Universita degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research and Oxford Photovoltaics Ltd, among others.
The project recently provided an update on its achievements:
- Dead area of photovoltaic modules decreased to 400µm: Partners in CHEOPS have managed to decrease the break lines ' also known as 'dead areaâ' of the photovoltaic modules of perovskite solar cells to only 400µm. The breakthrough was achieved by applying optimized laser patterning processes.
- Increased performance of perovskite solar cells thanks to new production processes: CHEOPS researchers have discovered that reducing the thickness of BL-TiO2 from 40-50 nm to 20-30 nm increased the open circuit voltage by 10.36% on average. Experiments also showed that spatial uniformity is key for upscaling perovskite technology.
- Preliminary results of life cycle analysis are positive: CHEOPS researchers have successfully concluded the preliminary life cycle assessment of perovskite/silicon tandem cells. Results show that most of the impact on the use of resources, global warming and energy demand does not stem from the perovskite devices themselves but from the standard Si devices.
Posted: Nov 23,2017 by Roni Peleg