The headquarters of China National Petroleum Corporation and PetroChina, outside Dongzhimen, Beijing
Image: Charlie fong, Wikimedia Commons, public domain
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has announced that it has achieved an energy conversion efficiency of 25.05% for an inverted perovskite solar cell.
The result was confirmed by the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Inverted perovskite cells have a device structure known as “pin”, where hole-selective contact p is at the bottom of the intrinsic perovskite layer i with electron transport layer n at the top. Conventional halide perovskite cells have the same structure, but in reverse: a ‘nip’ arrangement. With nip architecture, the solar cell is illuminated via the electron transport layer (ETL) side; in the pin structure, it is illuminated by the surface of the hole transport layer (HTL).
CNPC researchers said that by combining the inverted architecture with “dipole-precisely tunable” interface molecules, they were able to address key stability issues, increasing the cell’s open-circuit voltage to 1.68 volts.
The company said the cell is intended to serve as the top device in tandem configurations with conventional silicon bottom cells. CNPC reported certified efficiencies of 34% for silicon-perovskite tandem cells and 30% for all-perovskite stacks, although it did not provide further technical details.
CNPC said modules using the new perovskite technology could reduce the levelized energy cost (LCOE) to CNY0.212 ($0.030)/kWh, about 14.5% lower than standard PERC silicon modules.
To scale up production, CNPC plans a 100 MW pilot line in 2026, followed by a 5 MW mass production facility in 2028.
After establishing CNPC Electric Power in late 2025, chairman Dai Houliang set a target for renewable energy capacity to equal the group’s oil and gas production by 2035. The initiative is supported by a CNY 10 billion industry fund and government tax incentives for perovskite production.
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