Photovoltaics are becoming colourful and multifarious
Perovskite semiconductors are among the most promising materials for the next generation of highly efficient and cost-effective solar modules. Thin-film solar cells on this basis already achieve efficiencies of more than 23 % in the laboratory. However, the processes currently used in research to perovskite solar cells cannot be transferred to the industrial scale. One goal of the PRINTPERO (Printed Perovskite Modules for Building Integrated Photovoltaics) project is therefore to replace laboratory processes with digital printing processes that run at low temperatures and are suitable for industrial production, explains Dr. Ulrich W. Paetzold, head of the Advanced Optics and Materials for Next Generation Photovoltaics research group at the Light Technology Institute (LTI) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and coordinator of the research project.
In the project, researchers and industrial partners from Germany and Greece are cooperating to develop digitally printed solar modules based on perovskite semiconductors. These modules should not only be highly efficient and stable, but also meet a wide range of architectural requirements for integration into buildings. Prototypes can be tailored in size and freely designed in shape and color. The scientists involved are using the potential of digital inkjet printing for this purpose. They are also developing printable luminescent layers to create different color impressions and protect solar cells from harmful UV radiation (see photo).
Together with the project partners, the Karlsruhe researchers are also working on improving the stability of perovskite solar cells, connecting several of these cells in series to form large-area solar modules, and encapsulating the modules to protect them from moisture and the resulting decay.
The PRINTPERO project involves the research institutions KIT and Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece as well as the solar industry companies SUNOVATION Produktion GmbH (Aschaffenburg) and Brite Hellas S.A. (Thessaloniki/Greece). The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the German-Greek cooperation project launched in 2018 and scheduled to run for three years within the framework programme Research for Sustainable Development (FONA).
More information: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acsaem.8b01829
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