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Oh the irony, it burns. Just one day after US President Donald Trump took steps to salvage the dying remains of the domestic coal industry, word has just dropped that new perovskite solar cells have gotten the seal of approval from the leading solar manufacturer Trinasolar. The new technology will push the cost of solar power down farther than it is now. What was that again about “beautiful, clean, coal?”
Perovskite Solar Cells Are Coming For Your Beautiful, Clean, Coal
Perovskite solar cells have been generating headlines around the solar industry ever since 2009, when a photovoltaic research team based in Japan reported the successful application of nanocrystalline perovskites to generate electricity.
The report sent thousands of researchers around the world off to pursue further refinements, lured by the potential for synthetic forms of the naturally occurring mineral perovskite to serve as a less expensive substitute for silicon in solar cells.
That has been quite a challenge because perovskites are extremely fragile. In recent years the industry has coalesced around a compromise in the form of tandem solar cells, which merge perovskites with the durability of silicon to achieve a lower-costing, higher-performing solar cell (see lots more perovskite background here).
Tandem Perovskite Solar Cells From Oxford PV & Trinasolar
The latest news about tandem perovskite solar cells is significant because it validates years of research under the umbrella of the UK firm Oxford PV, and combines it with the massive manufacturing power and market muscle of the Chinese firm Trinasolar.
Oxford PV surfaced on the CleanTechnica radar back in 2013, after it reported a conversion efficiency of 15.4% for its perovskite solar cells. The next year, the company was also on the market with a thin film perovskite layer for conventional silicon solar cells.
Fast forward to April 9 of this year, and we find Oxford PV signing an exclusive patent licensing agreement with Trinasolar, for the “manufacture and/or sale of perovskite-based photovoltaic (PV) products in China with an additional right to sublicense.”
If you’re wondering why China and not the US, that’s a good question. After all, former US President Joe Biden spent his entire four years in office vigorously advocating for more solar manufacturing in the US, an effort supported by two major new Acts of Congress, the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Apparently that was not quite enough to impress Oxford PV.
“With the Chinese domestic photovoltaic (PV) market currently valued at over US$50Bn per annum and projected to grow to US$100Bn by 2030, this agreement is a major step forward in accelerating the deployment of next-generation PV technology,” Oxford PV explained in a press statement emailed to CleanTechnica.
Coming Soon To A Solar Panel Near You…In China…
Oxford CEO David Ward left the door open, though. “Thanks to the relentless efforts of our team over the past decade, we are in a unique position to facilitate the transition of the solar industry to a high efficiency multi-junction technology platform,” Ward said. “We encourage other parties interested in a license outside of China, to contact us.”
That’s encouraging, especially considering that Trinasolar has a new factory under construction in Wilmer, Texas…oh, wait. Never mind. Last month, the Norwegian firm Freyr battery bought the solar facility from Trinasolar after rebranding itself as T1.
Meanwhile, Trinasolar is looking forward to pumping perovskite solar cells into the Chinese market hand over fist. “Trinasolar is kicking off a new era of industrialization for perovskite tandem technology, achieving integrated advancements in technological and industrial innovation to drive the solar industry forward,” said the company’s Chairman and CEO, Gao Jifan.
More Good News About Perovskite Solar Cells
The Oxford-Trinasolar hookup is just one indication that the US coal industry is not about to experience a renaissance, at least not a permanent one, despite the coal-supporting order issued by Trump on April 8.
In addition to the fresh burst of manufacturing activity, improvements continue apace on the research side. This week, for example, a team based at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing reported a new three-layer carbon electrode, consisting of a porous layer of carbon, a layer of graphite layer, and a thin but dense layer of carbon. The team achieved a certified solar conversion efficiency of more than 19%, a record for carbon-based perovskite solar cells.
Over in Switzerland, researchers at EPFL also reported a breakthrough. They have been working on the perovskite durability challenge by deploying the soft metal rubidium, but rubidium has a tendency to wander around and interfere with solar conversion efficiency. They finally solved the problem by fabricating their solar cells with a heating and cooling process that distorted the atomic structure of the material, locking the rubidium into place.
Perovskite Solar Cells In Outer Space
In addition to Earth-bound applications that threaten the reign of fossil fuels, perovskite solar cells are also carving out space for themselves in the space solar field, another emerging technology aimed at pushing coal, oil, and gas out of the global power generation profile.
Space solar refers to the idea of sending solar panels up into orbit, where they can harvest solar energy and beam it down to Earth 24/7, regardless of what the terrestrial weather is doing. That idea was confined to the sci-fi novels of the past century until the early 2000s, when researchers began putting the technology pieces together. That includes perovskites, which are in the mix partly due to their light weight and flexibility.
In the latest twist on the perovskite solar cell story, a team based in Germany has proposed fabricating perovskite solar cells on the Moon, deploying the rocky debris that peppers the surface as a base material instead of importing glass manufactured on Earth.
“This change alone could cut a spacecraft’s launch mass by 99.4%, slash 99% of transport costs, and make long-term lunar settlements more feasible,” the researchers explain.
Don’t get too excited just yet. The researchers tested their idea on simulated Moon dust, not actual dust from the Moon. In addition, the fabrication process has yet to be tested in a Moon-like environment.
Still, the results were encouraging. The Moon-based perovskite solar cells outperformed their Earthen counterparts on resistance to radiation, a feature that the researchers ascribe to the natural brown tint of Moon-derived glass.
Your move, Trump.
Photo: Oxford PV is bringing its tandem perovskite solar cells to China in an exclusive licensing deal with the solar manufacturing powerhouse Trinasolar (courtesy of Oxford PV).
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