Printed perovskite solar cell shows industry appeal

The breakthrough by researchers at Swansea University shows that the technology works at scale, which is crucial for adoption by industry.

Each of the individual cells forming the module is made of perovskite, which can be produced more easily and economically than silicon, which is commonly used in solar cells.

Perovskite solar cells have also proved to be highly efficient, with scores for power conversion efficiency (PCE) as high as 22 per cent on small lab samples.

The team works for the SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre led by Swansea University.  They used an existing type of cell, a Carbon Perovskite Solar Cell (C-PSC), made of different layers - titania, zirconia and carbon on top - which are all printable.

Though their efficiency is lower than other perovskite cell types, C-PSCs do not degrade as quickly, having already proved over one year’s stable operation under illumination.

The Swansea team's breakthrough comes from the optimisation of the printing process on glass substrates. They ensured the patterned layers were perfectly aligned through a method called registration, which is well-known in the printing industry.