At just over one micron thick, the new multi-junction material developed by the University of Oxford offers unprecedented flexibility without sacrificing conversion efficiency
The new multi-junction material eliminates the potential land consumption problem of large photovoltaic systems
Researchers from Oxford University’s Department of Physics have overcome the physical limits of solar panels to develop an ultra-thin multilayer perovskite photovoltaic material that does not require silicon layers and can be applied to any everyday object, from backpacks to cars to buildings. to mobile phones.
With the efficiency record set by LONGi Green Energy Technology, which with its tandem silicon perovskite photovoltaic achieved a conversion rate of 33.9 percentthe potential of perovskite is now clear. However, the Oxford team’s research opens up another avenue for this material, developing an incredibly thin and versatile solution.
They achieved a conversion efficiency of 27%
With thickness just over a micronnew ultrathin perovskite photovoltaics it is 150 times thinner than a silicon wafer. The solution developed by Oxford would potentially allow us to abandon large photovoltaic systems in favor of smaller, equally productive areas. Using a pioneering technique that stacks multiple absorbing layers into a single solar cell, scientists have harnessed a wider range of the light spectrum, generating more energy from the same amount of sunlight.
THE’the multi-intersection approach has now been certified independently from Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), equaling the performance of single-layer silicone materials in terms of efficiency for the first time.
“In just five years of experimenting with our approach of stacking or multiple intersections we have increased energy conversion efficiency from around 6% to more than 27%almost at the limit of what single-layer photovoltaics can achieve today,” stated Dr. Shuaifeng Hupostdoctoral fellow at the Faculty of Physics, University of Oxford.
In short, an approach that, if adequately developed, could lead to the much-desired theoretical efficiency limit above 45%.
Ultra-thin perovskite photovoltaics applicable to any object
As pointed out by Dr. Junke Wang Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions Postdoc Fellow at Oxford University Physics, new material It can be applied as a coating to any surfacekeeping energy performance unchanged but offering incredible flexibility.
“We can imagine perovskite coatings applied to a wider variety of surfaces to produce low-cost solar energy, such as the roofs of cars and buildings and even the backs of telephones mobile phones. If more solar power can be generated in this way, we can expect less long-term need to use silicon panels or build more and more solar parksWang added.
The commercial trial period has begun
New ultra-thin perovskite photovoltaics have great commercial potential well grasped Oxford PVspin-off of Oxford University Physics, which has started mass production of perovskite photovoltaics at its factory in Brandenburg-an-der-Havel, near Berlin, Germany. This is the world’s first mass production line for tandem solar cells.”perovskite on silicon”.
As underlined by the researchers themselves for read the full research we will have to wait a few more months.