Perovskite Solar - Page 44

Hanwha Q Cells, the solar panel unit of Hanwha Solutions Corp., has announced a large investment of 136.5 billion won (around USD$102 million) to establish a test facility for mass production of perovskite-silicon tandem cells and modules at its Jincheon plant in North Chungcheong Province. The trial operations for the new facility are scheduled to begin in the latter half of next year.

In collaboration with its German R&D center in Talheim, which currently operates a small-scale test production line for R&D purposes, the company plans to launch full-scale mass production of tandem cells in the second half of 2026.

Researchers from China's Henan University and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have reported an extremely efficient carbon electrode perovskite solar cell that reportedly achieves a power conversion efficiency of 20.8% while providing enhanced stability.

Schematic diagram of the fabrication process of bilayer HTL carbon electrode perovskite solar cells. Image from the study published in Journal of Materials Research and Technology

Commonly used metal contact electrodes can promote the degradation of perovskite solar cells due to the diffusion of metal impurities across the interfaces. This issue could be theoretically overcome by replacing the metal contact with carbon electrodes, which are highly promising for commercialization due to their ambient pressure processability based on industrially established printing techniques. The problem is, however,  that perovskite solar cells based on carbon electrodes lead to performance losses at the point where the carbon electrode meets the perovskite layer.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have reported bifacial minimodules with front efficiency comparable to opaque monofacial counterparts, while gaining additional energy from albedo light. Their new design strategy could help to improve the efficiency and stability of bifacial perovskite solar cells. 

The scientists added a hydrophobic additive to the hole transport layer to protect the perovskite films from moisture. They also integrated silica nanoparticles with proper size and spacing in perovskite films to recover the absorption loss induced by the absence of reflective metal electrodes. The small-area single-junction bifacial perovskite cells achieved a power-generation density of 26.4 mW cm⁻² under 1 sun illumination and an albedo of 0.2. The bifacial minimodules showed front efficiency of over 20% and bifaciality of 74.3% and thus a power-generation density of over 23 mW cm⁻² at an albedo of 0.2. The bifacial minimodule retained 97% of its initial efficiency after light soaking under 1 sun for over 6,000 hours at 60 ± 5 °C.

Japan-based chemicals company, Kaneka, has reported the design of a two-terminal (2T) perovskite-crystalline tandem solar cell using a 145 μm thick industrial Czochralski (CZ) silicon wafer. The cell has an anti-reflection intermediate layer relying on what Kaneka calls “gentle textured structures” that were applied on the front side of the bottom, which reportedly enables a significant improvement in the typical light confinement effects in perovskite-silicon tandem devices.

“Light management technology is mandatory to fully utilize the wide range of the solar spectrum in a solar cell, especially for a 2T tandem structure, since its top and bottom cells are electrically connected in series and required to satisfy the constraints of current matching whereby the respective currents at the operating point are aligned to some extent,” the scientists said in their work. “Because of the large difference in the refractive indices between perovskite and crystalline silicon (c-Si) materials, the optimized intermediate layer as shown acts as an anti-reflection coating to suppress the reflection loss of the infrared light that is utilized in the bottom cell.”

First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR), a leading American solar technology company, has announced that it has further strengthened its global leadership in thin film photovoltaics (PV) by acquiring Evolar, a European developer of perovskite technology. 

The purchase price is approximately $38 million paid at closing and up to an additional $42 million to be paid subject to certain technical milestones being achieved in the future. The acquisition is expected to accelerate the development of next generation PV technology, including high efficiency tandem devices, by integrating Evolar’s know-how with First Solar’s existing research and development (R&D) streams, intellectual property portfolio, and expertise in developing and commercially scaling thin film PV.

Beijing Yaoneng Technology Co. (Auner), a Chinese developer of perovskite and crystalline silicon lamination photovoltaic technology and manufacturer of photovoltaic cells and modules, has announced that its 25cm² perovskite silicon tandem PV cell has achieved a stable conversion efficiency of 30.83% in the laboratory, which has reportedly been confirmed by China’s National Institute of Metrology.

Auner said this is a further increase by 1.26% from the 29.57% certified record achieved in February 2023 for its perovskite-silicon tandem PV cells. In addition, Auner says its large size perovskite cells are closer to meeting the mass production needs of the PV industry.

A new consortium of academic and industry partners, Tandems for Efficient and Advanced Modules using Ultrastable Perovskites, or TEAMUP, looks to help mitigate climate change by making a new generation of solar technology commercially viable.

The three-year TEAMUP collaboration, which is planned to start in the fall of 2023, is supported by $9 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. TEAMUP seeks to maximize the performance and reliability of tandem solar panels for consumer use.

A research team from City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and University of Washington recently developed a multifunctional and non-volatile additive which can improve the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) by modulating perovskite film growth. 

The team explained that the additive can be used to modulate the kinetics of perovskite film growth through a hydrogen-bond-bridged intermediate phase. The additive enables the formation of large perovskite grains and coherent grain growth from bottom to the surface of the film. The enhanced film morphology reportedly results in significantly reduced non-radiative recombinations, thus boosting the power conversion efficiency of inverted (p–i–n) solar cells to 24.8% (24.5% certified) with a low energy loss of 0.36 eV. The unencapsulated devices exhibited improved thermal stability with a T98 lifetime beyond 1,000 h under continuous heating at 65 ± 5 °C in a nitrogen-filled glovebox. This effective approach can also be applied to wide-bandgap perovskites and large-area devices to show reduced voltage loss and high efficiency.

Researchers from China's Chongqing University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and JA Solar Holdings Co., along with South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and Germany's CTF Solar and have designed a perovskite solar cell based on a binary mixed hole transport layer (HTL) that reportedly offers better performance than HTLs that rely on commonly utilized hygroscopic dopants.

The team mixed two popular hole transport materials to form a binary mixed HTL, that exhibited improved moisture resistance. As a result, PSCs equipped with the mixed HTL achieved a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of up to 24.3% and superior operational stability. The cells without encapsulation can maintain 90% initial efficiency after storage in dark ambient conditions (30% RH) for 1200 hours. These results suggest that such a mixed HTL could be a promising strategy to meet the future photovoltaic applications demands with low-cost as well as excellent efficiency and device stability.

The following is a sponsored post by Toray Engineering

In an article dated Oct 17, 2022, Toray Engineering introduced its slot-die coating technology, as well as other technologies that can be utilized for perovskite layer deposition for large-scaled production.

This article will describe two processes to formulate Perovskite layers using such technologies, using Toray Engineering’s manufacturing equipment. One of the processes is a 1-step coating method that applies FAPBI3 coating to formulate a power-generation layer. The other process is a 2-step coating method that double coats PBI2 and FAI to formulate a power-generation layer. For both processes, by combining its technologies in slot-die, vacuum dryer, and air knife, Perovskite layers can be formulated on large-scale glass surfaces.