Roll-on Solar, Roll-on
Perovskite Ink Solar Cells (credit: NREL)
Solar energy breakthroughs continue being made with the photovoltaic (PV) material, perovskite. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), part of the US Department of Energy (DOE), created a perovskite "ink" that can be sprayed onto a surface and generate an electric current. The inky material is being tested in combination with silicon solar cell combinations to create a rolled-out form. Perovskite is more efficient at converting sunlight into electricity than standard silicon solar panels today. If the combined PV materials can be manufactured into panels with dual generating capacities a second revolution in solar power may have arrived.
Since silicon PV materials were discovered, their solar conversion efficiency has risen from an original 3% to ~20-22% today. Perovskite efficiencies ~25-30% have been observed, mostly at laboratory scales. Production of these far higher efficiency cells has proved difficult due to their brittle crystalline nature. According to Colorado based NREL, the breakthrough of a photovoltaic ink offers the opportunity for "scalable production of thin films for high-efficiency solar cells".
Research into advanced solar materials is part of DOE's Solar Energy Technologies Office with the continuing goal of continuing to drive down the costs of renewable energy costs and solar power adoption. More effort is required to determine a manufacturing process and commercial pricing for roll-on perovskite solar films. However, this hasn't stopped architects and designers from envisioning a future day when buildings are coated in the new solar-generating material and they turn into entire solar power generators themselves.
Being one of the sunniest nations in the world, the Australians have also been active in developing novel approaches to producing PV materials. Through their Commenwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), the first pilot scale manufacturing facility is now producing the first printable PV rolls. A British company, Oxford PV, has constructed a plant to manufacture the new solar cells in that less than sunny country as well.
Efforts at creating perovskite solar cells were first published in Nature Energy and rapid improvements have continued ever since that announcement. A geeky 'deep dive' into a myriad of perovskite development efforts, which some are calling a second solar energy revolution, has been produced. It will be great to see when and where all this solar excitement begins to roll-out on a building or roof top near you. WHB