SOLAR FEATURE
Perovskites, when layered, can increase the efficiency of solar cells from 25% to more than 40%
Photovoltaics Research Laboratory, says: “Perovskites are highly tunable – you can mix and match atoms and molecules into the structure, with some limits. If you [try] to add a molecule that is too big, you’ll distort it [and destroy its structure and functionality].”2 Perovskites, when layered, can increase
the efficiency of solar cells from 25% to more than 40% over standard silicon cells. Perovskite offers highly efficient conversion of ultraviolet and visible light and excellent transparency to near-infrared light (the latter makes them useful in tandem solar cells, where silicon and perovskite are layered). Thus the thrust of worldwide research is into increasing the efficiency of perovskites to combine with – or replace – silicon-based technology. The Dutch Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), in conjunction with other European research partners, is developing a novel tandem solar module. The module consists of perovskite/silicon solar cells layered on top of each other. This type of solar cell is monolithic, which means that the perovskite cell and the silicon cell are electrically connected (in a series). Importantly, this dual silicon/ perovskite arrangement can achieve higher
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‘Perovskites are highly tunable – you can mix and match atoms and molecules into the structure, with some limits’
efficiencies than those achieved by current silicon-based solar modules, which results in more power per square metre and a lower cost per kWh. TNO notes that, on average, conventional
silicon-based photovoltaic (PV) modules are increasing their average conversion efficiency by 0.5% per year. Hence PV energy production is becoming cheaper. However, there is an upper limit to the power conversion efficiency of conventional silicon-based PV modules that is set to be reached within three to five years: “It will become increasingly costly to maintain this positive trend, which is bound to slow down,” says TNO3
. “As a matter of fact,
any single material (or single junction) PV module is similarly affected by this limit, which has to do with thermalisation losses. “The efficiency is a fundamental factor
in lowering the cost of kWh by photovoltaic generation where the cost of the PV module
itself is only a lowering fraction of the total cost – indeed material, installation and area (e.g. land) costs, but also operation and maintenance and capital costs, reduces with higher efficiency as more kWh per area is produced.”
Working in tandem Maarten Ribbens, head of TNO Benelux, says: “TNO has been developing its tandem technology since 2016 and a handful of industrial partners eventually hope to deploy this technology in mass production. However, tandem PV module technology requires further development at relevant scale before it is industry-ready for introduction into the market.”4 Although valuable working in tandem
with silicon, perovskites may one day replace silicon altogether. Professor Chunlei Guo, of the University of Rochester, is clear about their potential. “Perovskites are a new type of materials to possibly displace silicon,” he says. “For solar cell materials, the most promising alternative is perovskites. They have a comparable efficiency [to silicon] but are far cheaper to make.”5 Guo’s group is focused on developing
perovskite solar cells using a physics-based g May 2023 Electro Optics 29
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