Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln presented an innovation that could improve perovskite solar cells' efficiency, pushing it forward on the way to rivaling silicon-based cells. The developed process increased the perovskite solar cells' efficiency by more than 2 percentage points, to 19.4%, and the researchers also stress their hopes of achieving 25% efficiency in 3-5 years.
The process involves applying heat and a solvent to a chemical layer that transports energy absorbed by the perovskite to an electrode. Though the effects are not visible to the naked eye, this "solvent annealing" process is said to be similar to polishing a floor so that objects will move more easily across it. This process has been acknowledged by other researchers as "an important direction for further improving the efficiency of perovskite solar cells".
Source: news.unl.edu