Nanoelectronics R&D organisation imec has been appointed as the lead to a three-year €5 million EU funded R&D program on perovskite solar cells that brings together a number of European research and commercial partners.
Researchers at Solliance and ECN have fabricated a 6 inch industrially processed c-Si cell with a perovskite top layer that is mechanically stacked using ECN’s MWT-SHJ (metal-wrap-through silicon heterojunction) design that has achieved conversion efficiencies of 26.3%. The work was published during the Silicon PV/nPV conference, in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Multinational construction firm Skanska AB is to test semi-transparent perovskite solar modules from start-up Saule Technologies on commercial office buildings with the first applications planned to be installed in Poland in 2018.
Perovskite solar cell developer Oxford Photovoltaics said it was working with scientists at the new Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) innovation lab to further the optimisation of its perovskite cell materials for silicon heterojunction solar cell technology.
The École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is proposing the standardization of aging measurements of perovskite solar cells after developing a range of new methods that are claimed to best represent some of the unique characteristics of perovskite materials.
The German subsidiary of UK firm Oxford Photovoltaics (PV) has been awarded €15 million (~US$18 million) by the European Investment bank (EIB) to support the commercialisation of the company’s perovskite photovoltaic technology.
As part of an initiative by the Australian government, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) awarded a total of AU$29.2 million for 20 research projects to propel the development of PV technology.
Nanoelectronics research centre imec has taken a perovskite/silicon tandem mini-module-on-cell stack to a record 23.9% conversion efficiency, significantly exceeding its 20.2% efficiency figures reported in 2016.
Leading ‘Silicon Module Super League’ (SMSL) member JinkoSolar has started a collaboration with Greatcell Solar, formerly Dyesol and the Nanyang Technology University (NTU) in Singapore on perovskite solar cells.
Perovskite materials start-up Hangzhou Microquanta Semiconductor has reported that a perovskite mini-module, certified by testing firm Newport in Montana, US has achieved a new world record of 16% conversion efficiency.
