In a new perspective article, researchers from Dresden University of Technology and Denmark’s InfinityPV analyzed scientific research and more than 100 companies involved in the production of organic PV and perovskite solar cells. Their findings show that the commercialization of these technologies depends on the PV industry’s ability to increase financial transparency.
In one Advanced energy materials Perspective paper, researchers from Dresden University of Technology and InfinityPV, a Danish supplier of thin-film production equipment, discussed trends in scientific research and commercial development of organic PV (OPV) and perovskite solar cell (PSC) technologies.
The paper “Lost in the transition? Perspective on research versus commercialization of organic and perovskite solar cells”, discusses the high level of academic activity based on a bibliometric survey of more than 28,000 scientific publications and the more limited corresponding commercial activity. It provides suggestions on how to bridge “the gap between research and market” based on the findings.
The perspective article notes that researchers push the energy conversion efficiency for organic solar cells (OSC) and perovskite solar cells to 20% and 27% when analyzing research results and trends by country, collaboration activity, authorship trends, citation impact, patenting activity, industrial footprint and government support.
The analysis of a dataset of more than 100 companies dating back 25 years highlighted the need for greater transparency on financial performance, PV stability and other performance metrics. “The key findings suggest that while laboratory-scale performance is increasing, a lack of market confidence is hindering industrial progress,” the researchers said.
The sector is small and finding financial transparency is difficult, the researchers said. “The most surprising fact is that very few, only about 13%, of the many companies we identified publish real financial data, which means it is impossible to see what the actual market development is,” said corresponding author and CEO of InfinityPV, Frederik C. Krebs. pv magazine.
The researchers noted that German OSC panel maker Heliatek and Chinese perovskite solar cell makers Renshine Solar and GCL Optoelectronics have all acquired IEC 61215 and IEC 61730 certifications in a sign of the technology’s maturation, but they also said it will take many more companies to do so to signal the market has matured.
The researchers said the number of OSC companies is stable, while the number of perovskite solar companies is still growing. OSC companies ‘thrive in Europe’ but are few in number in Asia, adding that China dominates PSC in terms of research output and business formation.
It was suggested that the technical readiness level (TRL) does not automatically translate into industrial scale-up. The TRL metric was contrasted with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) metric, technology performance level (TPL), which is considered “more appropriate” for renewable energy technologies.
The researchers further noted that Det Norske Veritas’ (DNV) new technical bankability level (TBL) measure, which was launched in February, could provide more relevant risk criteria. But it’s still too early for TBL adoption, as Krebs noted he hasn’t seen it used among emerging PV developers.
Another recommendation was to promote more open and shared trial lines. “Many new initiatives have recently been announced to create truly collaborative labs that provide a shared R&D infrastructure. I hope to see a maturity that appropriately combines academia and industry with less red tape,” said Krebs.
Other suggestions included greater standardization and certification efforts, plus better cross-sector collaboration between industry, startups and research teams.
The researchers said it helps to view emerging PV within the “broader energy transition landscape,” noting that perovskite technologies “have strong potential for large-scale commercialization,” particularly the perovskite-silicon tandem combination due to the higher efficiency already demonstrated at the module level, along with the increasing involvement of established silicon PV manufacturers.
As for OSC, whose advantages include abundance of source material and non-toxic pile, it is applicable in building-integrated solar photovoltaics (BIPV), agricultural voltaics, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and indoor solar photovoltaics. “Although these are often classified as niche applications, their importance is not negligible,” the researchers said.
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