At Intersolar Europe 2015 in Munich, Germany (10-12 June), nano-electronics research center Imec of Leuven, Belgium has announced a thin-film perovskite photovoltaic (PV) module with a solar energy power conversion efficiency of 8% measured over an aperture area of 16cm2.
The geometrical fill factor of more than 95% for this size of module demonstrates the potential of scaling up the thin-film PV technology from cell to module level, says Imec. The achievement represents a step in realizing a marketable thin-film solution for applications such as building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), it adds.
Picture: Imec's thin-film perovskite PV module.
Organometal halide perovskites are considered to be excellent materials for thin-film solar cells as they have shown high conversion efficiencies at cell level. While efficiency of this new class of thin-film solar cells has increased rapidly in the last few years, further improvements are still needed to make it an attractive technology for industrial production, says Imec. Larger-area processing and narrow interconnections are prerequisites for processing efficient thin-film modules. Imec's results demonstrate the achievement of both factors for perovskite-based solar cells.
"Not only is Imec improving the perovskite material, but it is also adjusting the cell and module structure to enhance the conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells and modules by more than 20%," says Tom Aernouts, R&D manager for thin-film photovoltaics. "The rapid progress that we are making is based on our strong background and track record in traditional organic photovoltaics," he adds.
Imec is developing a platform for glass-based perovskite modules and collaborates with the Dutch joint thin-film PV research initiative Solliance to develop foil-based processes. Due to its high conversion efficiency and stand-alone integration in building elements, both glass-based and thin-film perovskite PV technologies are widely considered to be important technologies for the BIPV market. Imec is working to further increase the efficiency of silicon solar cells by creating a stack with a perovskite cell on top of a silicon solar cell. The perovskite cell will capture the light that is not absorbed by silicon, enabling conversion efficiencies of more than 30%.