Flexibility - Page 8

Researchers at Solliance, in collaboration with MiaSole Hi-Tech Corp., have designed a flexible solar cell with an impressive power conversion efficiency of 21.5%. The solar cell combines two thin-film solar cell technologies into a 4 terminal tandem solar cell stack: a top flexible semi-transparent perovskite solar cell with a bottom flexible copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) cell.

A tandem solar cell, which combines a perovskite and a Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) cell, has the potential for high conversion efficiency exceeding single junction solar cell performance thanks to tunable and complementary bandgaps of these individual thin film solar cells. CIGS technology has a proven track record as a high efficiency and stable solar technology, and has entered high volume manufacturing in multi-GW scale around the world. CIGS technology has been successfully used to produce high efficiency flexible and lightweight cells and modules, which address markets where heavy and rigid panels cannot be used. Perovskite solar cells, promise low cost solar technology based on abundant materials. Combining both technologies in a flexible and lightweight package expands the horizon of high performance, flexible, and customizable solar technology.

Saule Technologies will be presenting a flexible, printed, perovskite photovoltaic module the size of an A4 sheet of paper, for the first time, at the IDTechEx Show on November 15-16th in Santa Clara, CA. The operating Saule module is printed on an ultrathin plastic foil able to charge personal electronic devices, demonstrating one of the many possible applications of these perovskite solar cells. The prototype industry-scale production line is estimated to begin in 2018.

"Scaling up the size of perovskite solar cells is one of the biggest challenges for companies and researchers working with this technology. Printing a stable and operating A4 size module has been among our most important milestones for 2017 and we are more than happy to be able to present it for the first time in the USA," says the CTO and co-founder at Saule Technologies.

A team of researchers at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has demonstrated a prototype of a flexible 30cm by 30cm plastic sheet with perovskite printed on it. To achieve this, various liquid chemicals, including the perovskite, are mixed together. The solution is then poured into a standard screen printer and printed onto sheets of plastic or glass.

The team stated that since perovskite is translucent, and its color can also be adjusted through chemical processes, perovskite solar panels could even be integrated into building facades, which is not possible with current silicon-made solar panels that are opaque and would block out light. These perovskite panels could also be cheaper to produce, costing about three times less than conventional silicon cells, the researchers said.

Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed a flexible perovskite solar cell that reaches an efficiency of 21.7%, a peak conversion efficiency of 26% and could be manufactured using a low cost roll-to-roll process.

Many previous attempts to merge two perovskite materials have failed because the materials degrade one another's electronic performance. This design was achieved using a new way of combining two perovskite solar cell materials ' each tuned to absorb a different wavelength or color of sunlight ' into one 'graded bandgap' solar cell that absorbs nearly the entire spectrum of visible light.

A team of researchers from the National University of Science and Technology (MISIS) in Moscow, in cooperation with colleagues from the University of Texas at Dallas, have developed a flexible solar battery which is said to be at least three times cheaper than its silicon analogues.

The scientists created a perovskite-based thin-filmed photoelectric cell, which made it possible to create an advanced solar battery. According to the tram, the achievement was made possible by the fact that the selected perovskites can convert solar energy radiation into electric energy with a performance coefficient of more than 15%, and with a planned rate of 20%.

Researchers involved in the €10.6 million European research project called GRAFOL have reportedly demonstrated a cost-effective roll-to-roll production tool capable of making large sheets of graphene on an industrial scale, which could greatly contribute to flexible thin-film solar cells with transparent electrodes like perovskite PVs.