In an interesting way, a group of researchers at the University of Sheffield was able to develop perovskite solar cells with the help of spray-painting process. Although the process is not new but using perovskite as a spraying material is being employed for the first time. Sheffield’s experts from the department of Physics and Biological Engineering have already used the spray-painting process to fabricate solar cells but the material used was organic semiconductors.
In 2012, the researchers were able to successfully demonstrate the efficiency of photovoltaics based on organometal halide perovskite. Experts envision the material’s bright future with respect to solar cells because of its high efficiency and affordability.
There is an insignificant amount of wastage with the new spray-painting method and so it can scaled to high volume manufacturing. It can be compared to applying paint to cars or graphic printing as shown in the following video.
David Lidzey one of the lead researcher claimed that the perovskite based photovoltaics have a promising future. He said that the class of material has the potential of merging high performance of existing technologies of solar cell with low embedded energy costs of production of organic photovoltaics. Since the existing solar cells require high energy demanding materials like silicon but on the other hand perovskites require much less energy for fabrication.
Perovskite based spray-painting process is a significant step towards enhancing the efficiency of solar technology within an affordable limit. Solar technology has already become an integral component within the world’s renewal energy market, and with the introduction of perovskite based spray-painting technique it will scale to substantial heights.
Source: The University of Sheffield
