A team of researchers at the Netherlands' AMOLF institute has modelled the performance of tandem perovskite/silicon solar cells under real-world climate conditions, and found that the tandem cells are just a little more efficient than the Si cell alone in the cloudy climates of the test locations. The research shows, however, that if correctly optimized, this type of cell could perform at efficiency levels above 38%.

Discounting all parasitic absorption in the transparent contacts of the perovskite cell, say the researchers, the tandem cells exhibited efficiency advantages of between 1.8% and 3.3%, far less than expected under ideal conditions.

A team of researchers at Stanford University has used an insect-inspired design to protect perovskite materials for solar cells from deteriorating when exposed to heat, moisture or mechanical stress.

"We were inspired by the compound eye of the fly, which consists of hundreds of tiny segmented eyes," explained a professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford and senior author of a study. "It has a beautiful honeycomb shape with built-in redundancy: If you lose one segment, hundreds of others will operate. Each segment is very fragile, but it's shielded by a scaffold wall around it."