A consortium entitled "Scalable High-power Output and Low-Cost MAde-to-measure Tandem Solar Modules Enabling Specialized PV Applications" (SOLMATES) was selected for a Horizon Europe project. 

The consortium consists of 3 RTOs including the HZB (Helmholtz Center in Berlin for Materials and Energy), Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) and TNO (Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research), 5 universities including the Universität Innsbruck (project coordinator) and 6 SMEs. The SOLMATES initiative launched in December 2023 held an initial "kick-off" strategic research meeting on January 17-18, 2024, in Innsbruck, Austria.

Tin-based perovskite solar cells have attracted great research interest due to their excellent photovoltaic performance and environmentally friendly characteristics. However, TPSCs with ideal band gaps suffer from current losses, so new interface engineering strategies need to be developed to improve device performance. Researchers from Soochow University and Marmara University have reported high-performance tin-based perovskite solar cells (TPSCs) by constructing charge bridge paths. 

The authors propose a method to construct charge transfer pathways through a simple post-growth treatment of 3-aminomethylbenzo[b]thiophene (3-AMBTh) on a perovskite film. The selective reaction of 3-AMBTh with exposed FA⁺ on the perovskite surface suppresses the formation of iodine vacancy defects, resulting in a reduction in trap density.

Researchers at the University of Sheffield have used silver (Ag) particles to form a SnO₂:Ag nanoparticle composite transport layer, to improve the efficiency of perovskite solar cells.

SnO₂ is known as one of the most efficient transport layers for perovskite solar cells. Adding the Ag nanoparticles increased the recombination rate (detrimental for device performance), and the charge carrier transfer and extraction was also enhanced (beneficial for device performance). In order to balance these opposing factors, the nanoparticle concentration was optimized at an intermediate concentration with a corresponding power conversion efficiency increase from 13.4 ± 0.7 % for reference solar cells without nanoparticles to 14.3 ± 0.3 % for those with nanoparticles. 

Researchers at the University of Oxford, University of Toronto, Peking University, Kunming Medical University, Yunnan University, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Academia Sinica have reported a chemically stable and multifunctional buffer layer material, ytterbium oxide (YbOx), for p-i-n perovskite solar cells (PSCs) by scalable thermal evaporation deposition. 

This YbOx buffer has been used in p-i-n PSCs based on narrow-bandgap perovskite light-absorbing layers, with certified power conversion efficiencies exceeding 25%.

Canada-based Solaires Entreprises, developer of sustainable and scalable perovskite-based photovoltaic modules, has announced the launch of its first
production line. 

Solaires deployed its fully functional pilot production line where it will be producing PV modules for customers. The pilot production line is located in Langford, BC, Canada.

Researchers at Seoul National University and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have developed highly efficient tandem perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs). This advancement may expedite the commercialization of perovskite light-emitting materials in next-generation display technologies.

The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) announced that the team, led by Professor Lee Tae-woo from Seoul National University’s College of Engineering, has successfully created a high-efficiency and long-life hybrid tandem light-emitting device. This device combines metal halide perovskites with organic light-emitting diodes.

TandemPV has raised $6 million, bringing its total to $27 million in venture capital and government support. The Company will use the funds to advance research and development and plans to build its first manufacturing facility.

The funding round was led by existing investor Planetary Technologies, an early-stage venture capital firm with deep expertise in climate tech. Other institutional investors participated, including new investor Uncorrelated Ventures, as well as executives from a variety of corporate sectors and such solar industry leaders as Tom Werner, former chairman, president and CEO of SunPower Corp.

Researchers at the University of Michigan and Arizona State University have examined bulky "defect pacifying" molecules as a way to increase the stability and overall lifespan of perovskite materials.

The team expects this novel way of preventing perovskite materials from degrading quickly could help enable solar cells estimated to be two to four times cheaper than today's thin-film solar panels.

China-based RenShine Solar has announced the completion of its 150MW perovskite PV module project in Changsgu, which started in April 2023. 

The Company said it has switched on the 150 MW perovskite cell production line. The China-based perovskite manufacturer aims to achieve mass-scale production of perovskite panels with a size of 1.2m*0.6m and an efficiency of 20% by mid-2024. It said it will focus on the development of gigawatt-level production lines to further expand its capacity. 

Researchers at China's Sun Yat-sen University, Spain's Universidad de Valencia, Germany's Forschungszentrum Jülich, and University of Duisburg-Essen have used transient photoluminescence measurements to show that the loss of charge carriers in perovskite cells follows different physical laws than those known for most semiconductors. This may be one of the main reasons for their high level of efficiency. 

“An important factor here is the question of how long excited charge carriers remain in the material, in other words their lifetime,” explains Thomas Kirchartz. “Understanding the processes is crucial to further improving the efficiency of perovskite-based solar cells”. Kirchartz is the head of a working group on organic and hybrid solar cells at Forschungszentrum Jülich’s Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-5).