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There have been perovskite cells over 30% for a long time. Some have approached 50%. They can be radically lighter and cheaper to make than Si or CdTe cells. T
by ncmncm 4y ago
There have been perovskite cells over 30% for a long time. Some have approached 50%. They can be radically lighter and cheaper to make than Si or CdTe cells.
The trick is getting them to last long enough to be saleable. At first they lasted only a few minutes, or only until they got wet, or dirty. Now they can be made to last at least a few years, and to shed rain.
Satellites often are built with perovskite panels because it doesn't rain much there, and weight and efficiency can be pretty important.
- ZeroGravitas 4y agoThe number of a layers matters. There's apparently some physical limits on how much energy one layer can absorb, so stacking multiple layers appears to be the way to go, but it can lead to confusion if you compare different numbers of layers. This record appears to be for 1 layer of silicon and 1 of perovskite. I think a single layer Perovskite peaks about 25% currently, similar to silicon alone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-junction_solar_cell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-junction_solar_cell
- ncmncm 4y agoRight, you don't get all the way there with one layer. But perovskite layers can usefully be thin enough that light of too long wavelength for one layer goes right through to the next. Three layers is wholly practical, because perovskite layers are cheap. So, top layer converts UV and blue photons. Next catches maybe green to orange. Bottom catches red and IR. Multi-layer silicon would be expensive.