Germany's TubeSolar AG and the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Re-search Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) have achieved a 14% efficiency 'record' for perovskite based solar films, using a roll-to-roll process, claiming it to be an important milestone for industrial production of flexible perovskite solar cells.
The solar tech company and the research institute used slot die to deposit all layers of solar films, timing it as 1 minute for over 1 meter of coating process, leaving out only the front and the rear contacts.
"The combination of this industrially suitable, fast production process and the high efficiency is groundbreaking. The flexible solar cells are used for the production of tubular photovoltaic modules, which can be used in agri-photovoltaics, among other applications," explained ZSW.
To achieve this efficiency level, the team used 'industrially suitable' roll-to-roll process on a small area. They now aim to transfer the high efficiencies to larger solar films and thereby commercialize the slot die deposition as an industrially suitable coating method for flexible perovskite solar cells.
Higher efficiency can be reached by further optimizing solar cell layer stack, the absorber, and improving conductivity of electrodes.
TubeSolar uses its patented technology to produce thin film tubes joined together to form modules that can be deployed for agricultural sector as well as for commercial and industrial (C&I) roofs. The company plans to expand its annual production in Augsburg to 250 MW in the next few years.
Recently, ZSW announced 16.7% efficiency for perovskite solar cells using non-toxic solvent DMSO (see ZSW Develops Ecofriendly Coating For Perovskites).