Oxford Photovoltaics (Oxford PV) - Page 7

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has announced seven new Prosperity Partnership projects that will build links between the UK's research base and leading industry partners. The new projects will focus on four of the Industrial Strategy Grand Challenges (ISCF) , involve nineteen industry partners and ten universities, and will fund 50 studentships.

Prosperity Partnerships are EPSRC's flagship approach to co-investing with business in long-term, use-inspired, basic research. They are five-year, multi-million pound research collaborations on topics of national and global importance which have been co-created by leading UK universities and businesses with a strong research presence in the UK.

Oxford Photovoltaics (PV) has been awarded a €2.8 million grant from the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy to prepare perovskite-silicon solar cells for high-volume manufacturing. The technology consortium is by headed by Oxford PV and includes specialist PV equipment manufacturer VON ARDENNE and three German institutes, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the Technical University of Berlin.

The newly funded project focuses on the optimization of the perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell architecture, to make further efficiency improvements on industrial 156 mm x 156 mm wafer formats. Importantly, this will include the refinement of industrial scale process technology as well as life-cycle analysis on the social-environmental impact of such cells.

Oxford Photovoltaics has reported a new perovskite tandem solar cell record, certified by Fraunhofer ISE at a conversion efficiency of 27.3%. Oxford PV's latest record for a 1 cm² perovskite-silicon tandem solar, reportedly exceeds the 26.7% efficiency world record for a single-junction silicon solar cell.

Oxford PV recently produced a 1 cm² perovskite-silicon two-terminal tandem solar cell with a verified conversion efficiency of 25.2%, through an ongoing collaboration with Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics Device Group at the University of Oxford, led by Professor Snaith.

Oxford Photovoltaics, in collaboration with Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics Device Group at the University of Oxford, produced a 1 cm² perovskite-silicon two-terminal tandem solar cell with a verified conversion efficiency of 25.2%. The two-terminal tandem solar cell efficiency was certified by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE.

Dr Chris Case, Chief Technology Officer at Oxford PV commented, 'The unique, optically enhanced architecture developed as part of this collaboration, minimizes losses, and has helped us achieve this record setting efficiency'.

The European Commission has established a new research training network, led by the University of Bath, to make perovskites "truly exploitable" and make perovskite-based devices commercially viable. The new program, called MAESTRO, has been given €4 million in funding and has begun hiring researchers to gain new knowledge and provide innovation in the exploitation of perovskite materials.

A trans-European project, MAESTRO is an inter-sectoral and multidisciplinary network of 10 academic and seven industrial partners from nine EU and EU-Associated countries: the UK, Italy, Spain, Greece, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Israel and Switzerland.