Switzerland-based Perovskia recently announced it is establishing a factory in Aubonne, Switzerland, to produce a million custom-designed perovskite devices annually.
Perovskia is a spinoff of the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA). It was founded to develop the market for customized perovskite solar devices as battery replacements.
The Company explained that the new factory will be a sheet-to-sheet production line based on commercially available equipment with minor customization, that will include a new in-house built tool to simply print the encapsulation material. The full cell stack with contacts will be printed in-house on glass substrates. The automatic production line is ordered with a capacity of 1 million solar cells and is expected to be operational in Q1 24, according to statements by CEO Anand Verma. He stated that the auxiliary equipment is in place, and Perovskia plans to automate the back-end production by the end of the year.
The Company is currently fundraising to expand its team and meet customer needs effectively.
According to reports, in 2023, Perovskia had 15 original equipment manufacturers (OEM) in the process of evaluating, testing or producing products. Two out of 15 of them were already using another indoor PV technology, either amorphous silicon or organic PV. The rest were using conventional batteries.
Optimized for indoor light condition, Perovskia Solar's latest generation of cells have an open-circuit voltage of 0.9 V and a power output of 80 µw/cm² – 85 µw/cm² under indoor lighting at 1,000 lux. The Company is aiming to increase it to 100 µw/cm² – 120 µw/cm² in a development project with EMPA.
As for stability, an efficiency of 80% is reportedly maintained after 5,000 hours of full sun exposure. The devices also reportedly retain 90% of their original efficiency after 1000 hours. The typical perovskite degradation rates are said to be avoided by using additives, and the devices are said to comply with Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) standards.
