Perovskite has been used in laboratory production of solar cells since 2009. However, efficiency improvements have only recently been seen, suggesting that perovskite may be a promising organic photovoltaic material for the future.
Research on perovskites has been conducted in multiple laboratories, with experts including Michael Grtzel, an organic photovoltaic pioneer from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, and Henry Snaith from the University of Oxford. Snaith hopes to commercialize the project by launching the Oxford Photovoltaic Project.
In the early stages of material application, perovskite solar cells had very low efficiency, at only 3.5%. However, Snaith stated that, according to some reports from mid-2012, the efficiency of this type of solar cell has recently quadrupled.
In the assembly of perovskite solar cells, pigments can be dispersed on a glass or foil substrate, and other material layers can be used to promote electron movement. Previous perovskite solar cells were very unstable, but this problem has recently been solved by using solid-state materials to replace the electrolyte. Researchers say that the efficiency of perovskite solar cells can reach up to about 15%.
In the MIT report, researchers stated that perovskite solar cells can achieve efficiencies of 20% to 25%.
Martin Green, a photovoltaic research pioneer from the University of New South Wales, said that perovskite materials can be used in parallel with existing silicon technology in battery packs.
“Perovskite materials are very simple and likely to be inexpensive,” Green said. “At the same time, the efficiency of perovskite solar cells is also improving significantly.”
