The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded The University of Toledo (UToledo) a one-year, $300,000 grant to advance research that could lead to the integration of promising perovskite solar cell technology into existing production lines for cadmium-selenide-telluride (CST)-based solar cells, maximizing the performance of thin-film tandem solar cells and reducing the costs of energy.
UToledo's work aims to collect light from both the front and back sides of the solar panel while interconnecting layers of perovskites and CST cells on both the front and the back faces of the solar panel. UToledo has a patent pending on the technology called monolithic bifacial perovskite-CST tandem cell.
"Based on theoretical calculation, the monolithic bifacial tandem design can boost the output power density limit of conventional CST solar modules by up to 50% with a light color concrete ground," Song said. "Our proof-of-concept device demonstrated a greater than 25% conversion efficiency improvement."
