Efficiency gains for perovskite solar cells designed for indoor use
S. Himmelstein | May 13, 2020The development of photovoltaic devices to power consumer electronics, wireless sensors, smart homes and
The flexible perovskite photovoltaic cell is designed to power indoor electronics. Source: Sergio Castro-Hermosa et al. other systems in the indoor environment advances with flexible perovskite solar cell technology refined by an international research team.
The solar cells are manufactured on roll-to-roll indium tin oxide-coated ultra-thin flexible glass substrates with transmittance properties exceeding 80%, sheet resistance of 13 Ω/square and bendability surpassing 1600 bending procedures at 20.5 mm curvature. The active layers were deposited at low temperature and by solution processing. Performance of the perovskite devices on ultra-thin flexible glass is optimized by incorporating a mesoporous scaffold over tin oxide compact layers to achieve efficiencies of 20.6% under 200 lux and 22.6% under 400 lux LED illumination.
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The efficiencies documented are reported to be the highest of any flexible and curvable indoor photovoltaic technology. Specific powers in Watts delivered per gram of weight are 40% to 55% higher than photovoltaic counterparts on polyethylene terephthalate films and an order of magnitude greater than those on rigid glass.
Scientists from University of Rome Tor Vergata, Universidad Surcolombiana (Colombia) and Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP (Germany) participated in this research, which is published in Cell Reports Physical Science.