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The new process could help lower manufacturing costs.
Researchers in Germany and Spain have developed a fast vacuum coating process capable of producing perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells with efficiencies of up to 24.3 percent in just 10 minutes.
The solvent-free method was created by scientists from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the University of Valencia. It rapidly deposits uniform perovskite layers at high throughput, even on textured silicon surfaces commonly used in advanced solar cells.
Ulrich Paetzold, PhD, a professor at KIT, stated that industrial-scale manufacturing depends not just on achieving high efficiency, but also on whether the production process is fast, robust, as well as scalable.
“We were able to demonstrate that an exceptionally fast vacuum process not only produces uniform layers, but also yields efficient perovskite–silicon solar cells,” he explained.
Perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells stack a perovskite top cell over a traditional silicon bottom cell. Since the two layers absorb different parts of sunlight, they can capture more of the solar spectrum. Consequently, they can generate more electricity than traditional silicon-only solar panels.
However, producing the perovskite layer, the active light-harvesting component in these solar cells, remains a major challenge. Industrial manufacturing requires fast and uniform layer formation over large areas.
To address the challenge, the joint research team used a technique called close-space sublimation (CSS). This is a fast vacuum-based process, in which precursor materials evaporate and travel only a few millimeters before depositing onto the silicon cell surface. The materials then react to form the perovskite layer.
Sofia Chozas-Barrientos, a PhD student at the University of Valencia and study co-author, said the team utilized CSS to rapidly deposit organic precursor materials onto silicon without solvents.
The process consumes relatively little precursor material and allows the sources to be reused, making it attractive for industrial-scale production. “In the experiment, the conversion was completed after 10 minutes, an important advance for a vacuum-based process,” Chozas-Barrientos added.
For the study, the team carefully tuned the solar cell material to help it absorb the correct portions of sunlight. They reportedly adjusted the amount of bromine in the perovskite layer with a mixed organic source composed of methylammonium iodide and methylammonium bromide.
Alexander Diercks, PhD, a KIT researcher who spent six months at the University of Valencia, as part of the Horizon Europe project Nexus, stressed the importance of the achievement. “By adjusting the ratio of these two components, we were able to control the bromine content in the final material and achieve a band gap of 1.64 electronvolts,” Diercks explained.
The process worked across several silicon surface designs for high-performance solar cells. The scientists tested the CSS process on silicon subcells with smooth, nano-structured, and micro-structured surfaces, without changing the production settings.
Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray analyses revealed uniform coverage. The tandem solar cells created with the approach obtained efficiencies of 23.5 percent on smooth, 23.7 percent on nano-structured, and 24.3 percent on micro-structured silicon cells.
“This is extremely important for scaling,” Henk Bolink, PhD, a professor at the University of Valencia, concluded in a press release. “The fact that close-space sublimation also produces uniform layers on textured silicon cells makes this approach highly relevant for practical deployment.”
The study has been published in the journal Nature Energy.
Based in Skopje, North Macedonia. Her work has appeared in Daily Mail, Mirror, Daily Star, Yahoo, NationalWorld, Newsweek, Press Gazette and others. She covers stories on batteries, wind energy, sustainable shipping and new discoveries. When she's not chasing the next big science story, she's traveling, exploring new cultures, or enjoying good food with even better wine.
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