Researchers discovered a new way to make low-cost solar cell technology

A team of researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) have discovered a new way to fabricate high efficiency semi-transparent perovskite solar cells in a breakthrough that could lead to more efficient and cheaper solar electricity.

According to the researchers, the new fabrication method significantly improved the performance of perovskite solar cells, which can combine with silicon solar cells to produce more efficient solar electricity. Studies showed that perovskite solar cells were good at making electricity from visible light, such as blue, green, and red, while conventional silicon solar cells were more efficient at converting infrared light into electricity. 

ANU Ph.D. The Duong, Dr. Tom White, and Ph.D. student Jun Peng. Image source: ANU.

Dr. Tom White from the ANU Research School of Engineering said the prospect of adding additional processing steps at the end of a silicon cell production line to make perovskite cells could boost solar efficiency from 25-30%.

“By combining these two cells, the perovskite cell and the silicon cell, we are able to make much better use of the solar energy and achieve higher efficiencies than either cell on its own,” White said.

Although perovskite cells can improve efficiency, they’re not stable enough to be used on rooftops. According to Dr. White, the new fabrication technique could help develop more reliable perovskite cells.

The new fabrication method involves adding a small amount of the element indium into one of the cell layers during fabrication. This could increase the cell's power output by as much as 25%.

“We have been able to achieve a record efficiency of 16.6% for a semi-transparent perovskite cell, and 24.5% for a perovskite-silicon tandem, which is one of the highest efficiencies reported for this type of cell,” said Dr White.

Dr. White also said the research placed ANU in a small group of labs around the world with the capability to improve silicon solar cell efficiency using perovskites. The development builds on the silicon cell research at ANU and is part of a $12.2 million high-efficiency silicon/perovskite solar cells project led by University of New South Wales. It’s supported by $3.6 million of funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

Research partners include Monash University, Arizona State University, Suntech R&D Australia Pty Ltd., and Trina Solar.

The research was originally published in Advanced Energy Materials .