Saule Technologies - Page 7

Saule Technologies, Poland-based developer of perovskite solar cells ink-jet printed on thin foil, has announced the signing of a cooperation agreement with Skanska's commercial development business unit in Central Eastern Europe.

The construction company will be the first to cover office buildings with semi-transparent perovskite solar cells on a commercial scale. Saule Technologies will be the technology provider. The initial implementation tests are planned for 2018 in Poland.

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.

Saule Technologies has announced that it will be presenting a prototype and will answer questions regarding its flexible perovskite photovoltaic modules at the 3rd International Conference on Perovskite Solar Cells and Optoelectronics (PSCO-2017) in Oxford, UK.

The company will reportedly be showing an operating module printed on ultra-thin PET foil. Samples available for public viewing will present the stability of the module and underwater operation for the first time. The prototype large-scale production line capable of fabricating solar modules with a nominal power output of 100W/m2 is expected to be operational in fall of 2018.

Scientists at Imperial College London have conducted experiments to follow the direction in which electrons move in perovskite solar cells when they are generated with a short pulse of light. They found that the mobile charged defects are still present even in solar cells with very efficient contact materials, despite these cells showing no hysteresis. Hysteresis was only found when cells suffered the combined effects of both the defects and poor selectivity at the contacts.

perovskite films contain charged defects that tend to impair their performance. Slow movement of these defects is thought to be responsible for a process known as hysteresis, which leads to irregularities in the efficiency with which light is converted to electrical current. Light-generated electricity exits the solar cell in the form of electrons to be harnessed. This is done via 'contacts' that sandwich the light-absorbing film. Previously, scientists have managed to address hysteresis by using more 'selective' contact materials that ensure a one-way flow of electrons out of the solar cell.

Researchers at OIST (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology) have been investigating the cause of rapid degradation of perovskite solar cells. Their conclusions suggested that the degradation of MAPbI3 perovskites may not be a fixable issue, since iodide-based perovskites produce a gaseous form of iodine, I2, during operation, which in turn causes further degradation of perovskite.

In contrary to many researchers that have pointed to external sources (like moisture, atmospheric oxygen and heat) as the cause of MAPbI3 degradation, the fact that these solar cells continue to degrade even in the absence of these factors led the OIST team to believe that a property intrinsic to these cells was causing the breakdown of material.