Sekisui Chemical - Page 3

It was reported that Sekisui Chemical, a Japanese plastics maker, will begin mass production of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) in an effort to catch up with Chinese competitors.

The company will invest more than 10 billion yen (over USD $68 million) to build a new manufacturing facility with an annual production volume of several hundred thousand square meters by 2030.

SEKISUI CHEMICAL has announced that it commenced a demonstration test to install film-type perovskite solar cells at thermal power stations together with JERA on March 24, 2023.

SEKISUI CHEMICAL has created a 30 cm-wide roll-to-roll manufacturing process utilizing its original “sealing, film formation, materials and process technology,” and have confirmed 10 years equivalent of outdoor durability, which is said to be critical to the development of film-type perovskite solar cells. Furthermore, this manufacturing process has reportedly been successfully used to produce film-type perovskite solar cells with a power generation efficiency of 15%. Development is being accelerated to further improve durability and power generation efficiency, as well as to establish manufacturing technology for 1 m-wide rolls.

Sekisui Chemical has announced that it will provide and install film-type perovskite solar cells to Umekita (Osaka) Station, to be developed by West Japan Railway Company.

The Company claims it has achieved outdoor durability of 10 years equivalent by means of original “sealing, film formation, materials and process technology,” creating a 30 cm-wide roll-to-roll manufacturing process. This manufacturing process has been successfully used to produce film-type perovskite solar cells with power generation efficiency of 15.0%. Currently, work is aiming to establish a manufacturing process for 1 m-wide rolls that offers more improvements in durability and power generation efficiency with a view to practical application and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) Green Innovation Fund is being leveraged to speed up development.

Panasonic and Sekisui Chemical have reportedly developed perovskite-based solar cells that can be attached to walls and curved surfaces.

Panasonic developed a 20cm by 20cm perovskite solar cell. Panels made of these cells can be joined together to create sheets large enough for commercial uses. The company hopes to increase the cells' power generation efficiency to 20%; they are now slightly more than halfway there.

A recent report by Cintelliq on the perovskite solar cell patent landscape shows massive growth in perovskite photovoltaic patent publications over the past two years. In 2016 and 2017 more than 1500 patents have been published representing 75% of all perovskite photovoltaic patents published since 2008.

The total number of patents published to the end of December 2017 is 2030 and filed by 396 distinct assignees. These published patents arise from innovations that occurred in previous years, as can be seen in the chart of yearly patent filed and published. As can also be seen there are fewer patent filings in 2016 and even less in 2017. However, this is not a rapid fall in filings, but a probable side effect of the length of time it takes to go from initial filing through to initial publications.