Power Roll and Swansea University’s AI-IMPACT project will develop new inline and end-of-line testing, metrology, and characterization methods
It is aimed at enabling perovskite solar cells meet certification and industry standards
Power Roll will supply its perovskite solar film for evaluation, while Swansea University will assess performance, stability, and testing approaches
UK-based Power Roll Limited has partnered with Swansea University on an Innovate UK–funded project to advance testing and quality control for perovskite solar cells. The collaboration plans to use AI and new characterization techniques to support large-scale roll-to-roll manufacturing of perovskite cells and speed up their commercialization.
Awarded under the Developing Semiconductor Hardware for Critical Technologies Call, the partnership will work on AI-IMPACT, short for AI-Enhanced Perovskite Manufacturing using Inline Metrology, Performance Assessment and Characterisation Techniques.
Without better testing methods, Power Roll explains, perovskite solar cell manufacturers may struggle to get their products certified. Its research partnership with Swansea, supported by the UK’s National Physical Laboratory, attempts to develop new inline and end-of-line testing and characterization tools tailored for perovskite manufacturing.
They also plan to develop clear stability guidelines to support industry standards.
Under this project, Power Roll and Swansea will address major capability gaps in the testing for perovskite solar cells (PSC), before, during, and after manufacturing, to check for scale and high throughput.
To this research project, Power Roll is contributing its new lightweight, flexible perovskite solar film made using a fully roll-to-roll process and a patented partial ‘back-contacted’ groove-based design. In February 2025, it announced achieving stabilized power conversion efficiency of up to 12.8% with its back contact solar cell design using perovskite (see New Perovskite-Based Back Contact Solar Cell With Up To 12.8% Efficiency).
The manufacturer says the film is bifacial in nature, offers strong performance at different angles, and has low sensitivity to shading.
Swansea will test Power Roll’s sample films under AI-IMPACT, conducting reviews on performance standards, metrology, and testing methods of available equipment suppliers. It will also deploy AI to monitor and control solar cell manufacturing processes.
“This project will afford vital support for Power Roll as we work towards achieving our ambitious technology development targets, validating and accrediting a commercial product, and finalising plans for the first gigawatt-scale scale manufacturing plant in the UK – an achievement that will position the country at the forefront of next-generation solar technology,” shared Power Roll Technical Manager Dr. Dave Barwick.
This Power Roll partnership follows its 18-month joint development agreement (JDA) with German polymer films producer, RENOLIT, signed in December 2025. Under the partnership, RENOLIT will host one of the initial outdoor commercial trials of Power Roll’s solar farm at its German facilities.
RENOLIT will test and deploy Power Roll’s microgroove solar film in real-world conditions as the latter seeks the validation of its large-scale performance and durability.
