By 2018 the long-awaited “third generation” style perovskite solar cells will be ready for the market.

Differing greatly from the traditional solar cells seen today, these panels utilising perovskite solar cells are highly efficient, lightweight, flexible and transparent, opening up a whole new range of solar opportunities.

They will be able to be applied to materials such as metal, windows, polymers and cement, and will change construction as we know it- buildings will now be able to be generate energy.

Due to their efficiency, they don’t necessarily need to face the sun and can be used in low light conditions.

The perovskite solar cell technology recently set a new efficiency world record by the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne research team run by  Professors Anders Hagfeldt and Michael Grätzel.  The certified conversion efficiency rate was 21.01 per cent, a huge increase from 2009 where it was at 3.8 per cent. This makes it the most rapidly advancing solar technology to date so far.

Thanks to minimal production costs a number of start-up companies are expecting to have modules on the market by next year.

One company truly focused on the commercialization of the cells is Dyesol Limited. As they have been around for many years longer than their competitors, they have secured a number of key patents in the field.

After realising the advantages of perovskite three years ago they switched their development and research to it rather than dye-sensitised technology.

Richard Caldwell, Australia-based chief executive of Dyesol Limited released a levelised study on the cost of energy just recently, allowing the comparison of other energy technology market prices.

The study indicated costs were sitting between 12 and 9.6 cents p/kilowatt hour for the panels when they are constructed and used on a quite small scale.

In comparison to conventional solar it’s about the same (10-11 cents) but that’s before mass production.

An agreement between the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and Caldwell was reached at the end of 2015, which involved $450,000 of funding support in order to advance the technology closer to mass commercialisation and scalable manufacturing.

A production cost of 25 cents per watt was set by ARENA.

According to Caldwell, the installation period is only a few months, as, “they are less energy intensive to produce than the current (usually silicon based), which take several years,”.

“This is extremely exciting, as it allows us to transition to a clean energy society without any subsidies from the government,” he said.

“BIPV – building-integrated photovoltaics, in other words putting solar power generation on the surface of buildings – is the holy grail of the industry and because perovskite is ultra-thin it can easily be incorporated in buildings. But that’s longer term. We will first produce a free-standing unit for market entry, then integrated.”

Quarterly updates are posted by the company to show what progress has been made. Caldwell revealed that their next mission is to manufacture one metre square panels, and said that they would be partnering with countries such as Turkey to produce them.

Dyesol Limited hope to have this new product in mass production by 2018.

The first product to be released with the perovskite solar cells will have a glass substrate which will allow light to flow into the building interior. Dyesol says that the year after that they will bring metal-printed panels to the market.

Support from Australia

In terms of support, Caldwell stated that, “the new political regime in the Australian government is more favourable to us and the Turkish government is also very supportive,”.

Caldwell was welcoming of the technology recognition by Bill Gates in the recent climate talks in Paris. ‘Breakthrough Energy Coalition’, a new investment fund, was started by 28 wealthy investors including Gates, which aims to encourage an increase of public and private sector funds to renewable energy technology.

According to Gates, “When people start talking about perovskites, painted solar applications etcetera, a lot of it is down to the physics, so the majority of the money will flow through the fund,”.

More about perovskites

More traditional silicon cells need multiple costly processes undergone at huge temperatures above 1000°C in a “high vacuum in special clean room facilities,”, however the perovskite material can be created in a much simpler technique and environment.

Formamidinium and Methylammonium (the most commonly studied perovskite absorber) lead trihalides have been manufactured with the use of multiple solvent and vapour deposition techniques, which can both be potentially scaled up with relative difficultly.

Both of these techniques result in less use of polluting solvents.

Work still needs to be done on stability however, as the material is able to degrade, thus reducing efficiency.

This issue is currently being tested and worked on by Dyesol, and recent tests revealed a loss of under 10 per cent after 1000 hours at 85°C. This still needs to be drastically reduced, so various types of encapsulation is being used to change this. This issue was also present in the early days of silicon panels, so there is no reason for worry.

While there are still challenges, cheap and efficient solar power that can coat objects and buildings is now well within our reach.

Photo courtesy of Los Alamos National Laboratory