Perovskite Solar Cells experienced last year a significant development, mainly due to their high efficiency and the ability of being processed from solution (See link). This month a significant step forward has been made by achieving a new high efficiency of 15.4%. This has been announced by
Oxford Photovoltaics, the spin-off company devoted to the development and scale-up of this novel technology.
(Dr. Henry Snaith from Oxford University holding a perovskite solar cell)
At EMRS meeting in Strassbourg last month, Henry Snaith reported
this achievement. Surprisingly the new cell was constructed as a homogeneous thin film structure, i. e. there is no nanostructured material in it. The cell is formed by TiO2 compact
layer as blocking layer, the CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite acting as absorber and electron conductor and the organic Spiro-OMeTAD for hole conduction with gold
contacts on top. The record cell showed an efficiency of 15.35% (Jsc= 21 mA/cm2, Voc=
1.07 and FF= 0.67) (See link).
This positions these cells as a highly competitive technology able to provide very low-cost devices, which is one of the most demanded requirements for solar energy to be successful. However, very few things have been reported regarding lifetime and stability which is also very relevant for a market success. Let´s see how these very promising technology evolves and if it will be able to meet all the needs of the market, which is not something easy to achieve.
This positions these cells as a highly competitive technology able to provide very low-cost devices, which is one of the most demanded requirements for solar energy to be successful. However, very few things have been reported regarding lifetime and stability which is also very relevant for a market success. Let´s see how these very promising technology evolves and if it will be able to meet all the needs of the market, which is not something easy to achieve.
