Solliance partners TNO and TU/e develop thermal stable perovskite solar cell

The researchers developed perovskite solar cells which demonstrate only 7% of performance loss after 3.000 hours at 85C - instead of over 50% after 100 hours at 85C

25 Sep 2018 | Editor

Solliance Solar Research announced a significant accomplishment in thermal stability of perovskite technology. The thermal stability was tested over a period of 3000 hours. After this thermal stress test, the cell performance showed still 93% of the initial performance.

Mehrdad Najafi, researcher at Solliance Solar Research, will present the work at the EU PVSEC conference, in Brussels, Belgium.

"Perovskite solar cells have attracted great attention due to their high power conversion efficiency demonstrated stability and scale-ability, two very important topics within the Solliance collaboration, are the next steps towards successful commercialization of this technology. Our recent results show that it is possible to achieve stable perovskite solar cells upon prolonged exposure to thermal stress. After a further full-stack optimization and the introduction of a metal oxide layer by means of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), the thermal stability improved drastically compared with our previous reference: instead of losing over 50% of its performance after 100 hours at 85^oC, we now demonstrate only 7% of performance loss after 3.000 hours at 85^oC. This is an important stepping stone towards full IEC compliance."

Mehrdad Najafi, Researcher at Solliance Solar Research

"In the past 3 years we have been working with TNO towards the improvement in efficiency and stability of the hybrid perovskite PV technology. We are very happy to see that our fundamental research on interface engineering between atomic layer deposited (ALD) metal oxide- base charge transport layers and perovskite absorber, contributes to advancements in this extraordinary PV technology."

Adriana Creatore, Associate Professor at the Applied Physics department of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e)

"Note that the perovskite solar cell used in this test, recalls the structure of the semi-transparent perovskite solar cell Solliance used for its 26.3% hybrid perovskite / crystalline silicon tandem solar cell which Solliance, ECN part of TNO and Choshu Industry Co, Ltd announced earlier this year together. Therefore, this stability accomplishment also adds weight to this hybrid tandem result. Since this small perovskite solar cell (0.09 cm²) combines good performance with good thermal stability, we are now working to apply pilot scale process equipment provided by our industrial partners to bring this perovskite solar cell to a viable industrial production process for perovskite solar modules."

"Also, the expertise of industrial partners of Solliance Solar Research in sheet-to-sheet spatial ALD and laser interconnection of thin film cells is used to scale-up the technology to demonstration modules."

Sjoerd Veenstra, Program manager Perovskite Solar Cells at Solliance

About Solliance (pv network)

Solliance is a partnership of R&D organizations from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany working in thin film photovoltaic solar energy (TFPV).

In order to strengthen the region’s position as a world player in PV, Solliance is creating the required synergy by consolidating and coordinating the activities of 250 researchers in industry, at research institutes and universities.

Various state-of-the-art laboratories and pilot production lines are jointly used for dedicated research programs which are executed in close cooperation with the solar business community.

Solliance partners are: imec, TNO, Holst Centre, Forschungszentrum Jülich, University of Hasselt, University of Twente, Delft University of Technology and Eindhoven University of Technology.

Solliance offers participation in its research programs and opens up its lab facilities to new entrants, either from industry or in research. On the basis of clear Intellectual Property (IP) agreements, each industrial partner can participate in this research effort, or alternatively, hire equipment and experts to further develop its own technology.

Source: Solliance (pv network)