Macnica, a Technology Solutions Partner that provides products, services, and solutions, has announced a new type of air quality sensor that uses perovskite solar cells and semi-solid batteries. The sensor uses perovskite solar cells from EneCoat Technologies, a startup from Kyoto University.

It was reported that for several years, an indoor perovskite solar cell effectiveness demonstration project has been taking place in the company's office in Tokyo. Through this demonstration project, it was reportedly demonstrated that the technology can become a sustainable energy source in the future, including use under low illumination, and data on various issues was gathered toward the practical application of perovskite solar cells.

An international collaboration between scientists from CSIRO, University of Cambridge and others has resulted in a new efficiency record for fully roll-to-roll printed solar cells.

According to the team, the cells achieved “power conversion efficiencies of up to 15.5% for individual small-area cells and 11.0% for serially-interconnected cells”.

A large international group of researchers worked together to form a balanced viewpoint on the prospects of vapor-based processing of perovskite PV on an industrial scale. 

Their perspective highlights the conceptual advantages of vapor phase deposition, discusses the most crucial process parameters in a technology assessment, contains an overview about relevant global industry clusters, and provides an outlook on the commercialization perspectives of the perovskite technology in general.

According to reports, Japan's government plans to advance perovskite  flexible solar power panels through the country's feed-in tariff system, seeking to encourage investment in the technology. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to set the price of energy produced from perovskite cells at 10 yen (6 cents) per kilowatt-hour or more, higher than the current level for solar power, starting as early as fiscal 2025.

Light, flexible perovskite cells can generate electricity in places where traditional solar panel installation is not feasible, such as building walls and windows. The base technology is Japanese, and Japanese companies are involved in vigorous R&D with emphasis on quality and durability. At the same time, Chinese companies have begun mass production and are leading in commercialization.

An international group o researchers, including ones from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Solaronix, University of Cambridge, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and others, have developed a method to re-manufacture fully encapsulated perovskite solar cells after recycling. According to the researchers, the re-manufactured devices can achieve 88% of their original efficiency.

The novel method for re-manufacturing perovskite solar cells (PSCs) uses carbon-based electrodes (CPSMs). Re- manufacturing, as opposed to merely recycling, is described as the combination of re-used, recycled, repaired, or replaced parts to make a new product. “In this work, we demonstrate for the first time a re-manufacturing strategy for glass-glass encapsulated perovskite solar cells,” the scientists stated. “Our study presents a facile experimental method to remove the edge-sealant, encapsulant, back electrode, and degraded perovskite, allowing reuse of the device constituents.”

Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS), Beijing University of Technology, Suzhou Maxwell Technologies and Technical University of Munich have developed a triple-junction perovskite/Si tandem solar cell that can reportedly achieve a certified world-record power conversion efficiency of 27.1% across a solar energy absorption area of 1 sq cm, representing the best-performing triple-junction perovskite/Si tandem solar cell thus far. To achieve this, the team engineered a new cyanate-integrated perovskite solar cell that is stable and energy efficient.

Current multi-junction solar cell technologies pose many issues, such as energy loss which leads to low voltage and instability of the device during operation. To overcome these challenges, Assistant Professor at NUS, Hou Yi, led a team of scientists to demonstrate, for the first time, the successful integration of cyanate into a perovskite solar cell to develop a novel triple-junction perovskite/Si tandem solar cell that surpasses the performance of other similar multi-junction solar cells. 

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) scientists, along with collaborators from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), have reported a new strategy to design perovskite solar cells (PSCs) that improves their stability and raises their efficiency.

Image credit: KAUST

Defects at the top and bottom interfaces of three-dimensional (3D) perovskite photo-absorbers diminish the performance and operational stability of PSCs due to charge recombination, ion migration, and electric-field inhomogeneities. In this recent work, the team demonstrated that long alkyl-amine ligands can generate near-phase pure two-dimensional (2D) perovskites at the top and bottom 3D perovskite interfaces and effectively resolves these issues.

Researchers from the University of Stuttgart, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg and University of Victoria have reported 'the highest open-circuit voltage recorded to date' for a single-junction perovskite solar cell based on hybrid methylamine lead chloride (MAPbCl₃). The novel perovskite absorber was fabricated with a two-step deposition method and annealing under molecular nitrogen (N₂) gas inside a glovebox.

Image from: ACS Publications

The team fabricated a single-junction transparent perovskite solar cell based on hybrid methylamine lead chloride (MAPbCl₃), a perovskite material with one of the highest energy bandgaps among all perovskites. The team stated that this new cell could open the door for wide bandgap perovskites solar cells, which will be important not just for applications like Internet-of-Things (IoT) or solar windows, but also multijunction solar cells. The new work is especially noteworthy as single junction perovskites with wide bandgaps have not yet reached high voltages before.

Researchers at HZB's HySPRINT Innovation Lab, China's Tianjin University of Technology and Tianjin Institute of Power Sources have developed a non-laser additive method for manufacturing perovskite solar modules, in which an adjustable wire mask (AWM) was used to form the channels that were traditionally scribed by lasers. 

When module channels are made by conventional laser scribing, the heat-sensitive perovskite materials decompose, and the decomposition of perovskites in the open channel leads to reduced module stability. The electrode corrosion caused by the direct contact between the exposed perovskites and the metal electrode significantly increases the series resistance of the module. In this recent work, the team developed a non-laser additive method for manufacturing perovskite solar modules, in which an adjustable wire mask (AWM) was used to form the channels that were traditionally scribed by lasers. This method for making modules prevents contact between perovskites and electrodes. All layers, including perovskites, hole/electron transporting, and passivating and electrode layers, were fabricated via vapor-phase deposition, and by tuning the precursor composition, a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.7% was obtained (0.1 cm²). 

Chinese perovskite PV manufacturer Wuxi UtmoLight has announced ‘a new world record’ for steady-state efficiency on large-size perovskite solar modules. It has achieved 20.7% efficiency on an 810 cm² module. The Company claims to have attained a certification to this efficiency level by China’s National Photovoltaic Industry Measurement and Testing Center. 

UtmoLight says it significantly improved the crystallization of perovskite films by regulating the stress of the perovskite bulk phase and interface during the process of film formation, without sharing other details. The Chinese company has been making efforts to establish industrial production of perovskite modules. Currently operating a 150 MW line in China, it aims to expand to a GW-scale perovskite PV production line.