The EU-funded project aims to set up a pilot production of large perovskite PV modules

The EU-funded Laperitivo project, aimed at producing stable, large-area perovskite solar panels, started earlier this month. At the launch meeting in Genk, Belgium, representatives from 22 global partners shared their initial insights.

“Perovskite PV is recognized as a promising next-generation PV technology, and rapid progress has been made in recent years in terms of initial efficiency and stability,” said project coordinator Yinghuan Kuang. pv magazine. “However, most of the work was done on a small laboratory scale, usually ≤1 cm. Scalability using industrial processes would like to commercialize this PV technology, but it is a major challenge. Transferring the high-performing small-scale cell stack to pilot-scale production and ultimately to large-scale mass production with minimal losses is one of the key objectives of this project.”

Laperitivo stands for “production of perovskite solar modules on large surfaces with high efficiency, long-term stability and low environmental impact.” The project targets an efficiency of 22% for opaque panels of 900 cm² and 20% for semi-transparent modules with more than 95% bifaciality.

“The main research activities include the deposition of high-quality perovskite films and contacting layers over a large substrate area using industrially feasible techniques,” says the summary of the project’s EU funding document. “Indoor and outdoor field tests will be conducted to monitor the reliability of the modules. Safety, circularity and sustainability will be assessed to demonstrate products with minimal impact on the environment.”

The researchers plan to apply the semi-transparent modules to four-terminal perovskite/silicon tandem modules and agricultural voltaic panels. They will also explore a 200 MW pilot line and aim for a production capacity of 5 GW in Europe.

“Some key hurdles we expect to encounter have to do with minimizing the scale-up loss. This requires optimization of the uniform deposition of materials over a large substrate area, including the perovskite light-absorbing layer with a thickness in the range of 500-700 nanometers and the interlayers for interfacial passivation and charge collection. Moreover, we need to minimize the impact of laser writing on module interconnection,” said Kuang. “Another challenge is improving long-term stability for outdoor field testing, and dealing with the durability and recyclability of such packaged perovskite solar panels.”