Perovskite solar cells

The European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) has confirmed the results of Longi’s new perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell. It is currently the second-highest efficiency record in the world for a perovskite/silicon tandem cell.

The European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) has confirmed the results of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology’s (KAUST) new perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell. The 1 cm2 device also achieved an open-circuit voltage of 1.974 V, a short-circuit current density of 20.99 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 81.3%.

The perovskite solar race is heating up, with a cue of manufacturers forming to test products at the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) PV commercialization facilities, and academics on both sides of The Pond announcing new advances in recent months.

NASA has discovered that perovskite solar cells tested in space exhibit less degradation than reference devices tested on Earth. The agency acknowledged that it is uncertain about the specific factors in the space environment that contributed to the superior performance of the perovskite absorber film.

Researchers at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Silchar, Assam, have designed a formamidinium tin iodide (FASnI3) active layer-based perovskite solar cell that achieves an admirable power conversion efficiency of 31.57% while scoring well on other performance parameters too. 

Chinese researchers have developed a solar cell using CsSnI3 perovskite, known for its unique phase transitions and near-IR emissions. By simulating the device with various electron transport layers (ETLs) and hole transport layers (HTLs), they determined that the optimal cell could be created using a titanium oxide (TiO2) ETL and a nickel(II) oxide (NiOx) HTL.

First Solar has agreed to pay $38 million to buy Swedish manufacturing startup Evolar AB, as it seeks to expand development of high-efficiency tandem PV tech.

The US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has certified that a South Korean research team has achieved a 25.73% efficiency rating with a perovskite PV cell based on alkylammonium chlorides. The champion device built by the scientists reached an efficiency of 26.08%.

A US-Canadian group of scientists has used Lewis base molecules to improve surface passivation in a perovskite solar cell. The team produced a device with a high open-circuit voltage and remarkable stability levels.

A numerical study by researchers at India’s Chitkara University shows enhanced performance in the top device of a tandem solar cell based on copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS). The design had a higher open-circuit voltage, with the top cell acting as a current-limiting cell.