A global research team has developed a tandem solar cell with 30% transparency by combining perovskiet and organic layers, achieving a record of 12.3% efficiency for transparent solar cells.
An international research team has achieved record efficiency for transparent solar cells.
Researchers of the EU-funded CitySolar project, including nine partners from seven countries, developed a solar cell that generates electricity while light can continue.
The device integrates perovskiet and organic solar cells, so that it can capture different parts of the light spectrum.
“The tandem solar cell mainly harvests energy from the infrared and ultraviolet parts of the sun’s rays, but not of visible light,” said Prof. Morten Madsen of the University of South Denmark. “This enables us to set new efficiency standards for semi-transparent solar windows.”
Madsen, one of the lead researchers of the project, said that the technology is also very affordable, thanks to the cost -effectiveness of the materials based on mineral perovskite and carbon in organic solar cells. But he emphasized that the most important commercial challenge lies in balancing costs, aesthetics and efficiency.
The Cityolar team expects transparent solar cells to play a key role in the construction-integrated energy solutions. Since the cells let the light continue, they can function as standard windows and be integrated into buildings without changing architectural designs.
Madsen said that in the following steps the team is in conversation with industrial partners and that further investments are needed to scale the technology for commercial use.
“We can scale up what we have, but we need business partners,” said Madsen. “And there are still research improvements, but more importantly, we know where the challenges are and have a clear strategy to overcome them.”
The Italian National Investigation Council coordinates the CitySolar project, which includes partners such as the University of Southern Denmark, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and the University of Rome Tor Tor. The participating research institutes include the Paris National de la Recherche Scientifique Center.
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