An international collaboration of researchers, including from Monash University campus in Suzhou China, have built the first high-performance, commercially sized indium-free perovskite tandem solar cell.
Using a low-damage reactive plasma deposition process, the researchers created solar cells that achieved a certified efficiency of 31% in a commercially sized mini-module while also improving durability.
They said the devices withstood heat, humidity and more than three months of outdoor operation while maintaining strong performance.
Monash University Department of Materials Science and Engineering Adjunct Professor and Research Co-lead Dr Yuan Cheng said achieving more than 30% efficiency in a commercially sized tandem module is a major technical milestone and demonstrates that high performance can be maintained without relying on scarce, high-cost materials.
“The research team developed a reactive plasma deposition (RPD) process for tin oxide (SnOx) films to serve as the recombination layer, achieving a remarkable certified efficiency of 33.6% on 1 cm2,” Cheng said.
“By further extending the application of RPD-SnOx to both the front and rear transparent electrodes, we successfully fabricated indium-free tandem solar cells. Remarkably, we scaled this technology up to a 207.9 cm2 mini-module, obtaining an outstanding certified efficiency of 31.0%.”
Low cost
Published in Science, the breakthrough replaces indium-based oxide with abundant tin oxide, a material that costs 1% as much, pushing next-gen tandem solar cells closer to commercial viability and the potential for cheaper solar panels capable of generating more electricity from the same amount of sunlight.
Cheng said the milestone marks the first realisation of a large-area, highly efficient indium-free perovskite tandem solar cell, showing that the technology can be scaled beyond laboratory-sized devices.
“Considering the cost of tin is a mere 1% of that of indium, this breakthrough unveils a new material paradigm and a highly viable engineering route for low-cost, sustainable, and scalable tandem photovoltaics,” Cheng said.
“Ultimately, this work is of paramount strategic importance for propelling the industrialisation and terawatt-scale deployment of next-generation ultra-high-efficiency photovoltaic technologies.”
The research was led by a collaborative team including Professor Yuan Cheng (Monash University), Professors Xiaohong Zhang and Xinbo Yang (Soochow University), Dr Zijia Li (Chint New Energy Technology Co. Ltd), and with multiple renowned universities and leading enterprises in the photovoltaic industry.
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