CsiroDoojin Vak, from the Australian team, with a film produced by a roll-to-roll printerCsiro
Scientists from Australia, the UK, and China have developed flexible solar cells using a perovskite hybrid, produced in the form of thin plastic films by roll-to-roll printers at room temperature. Instead of the gold of traditional solar cells, the team used carbon-based inks made from crystalline silicon, replacing vacuum-deposited metal electrodes with printed carbon electrodes. “Roll-to-roll printing allows for the solar cells to be manufactured on very long, continuous rolls of plastic, which can dramatically increase the rate of production,” said Anthony Chesman, head of the renewable energy research group at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia. “As these methods are already widely used in the printing industry, this makes their production more accessible for Australian manufacturers,” he added in a CSIRO press release. Analyses of 1,600 cells identified the best combinations of production and yield parameters. The hybrid perovskite cells demonstrated power conversion efficiencies of up to 15.5% for individual small-area cells and 11% for interconnected cells in a series in large modules. The efficiency of commercial rigid solar cells, made from crystalline silicon, ranges from 14% to 19% (Nature Communications, March 12; CSIRO Newsletter, March 13).
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