Spray-on solar cells are not new, but adequate efficiency has been somewhat lacking. Now, a team of scientists from the University of Sheffield are the first to manufacture more efficient peroviskite cells using a spray-painting process.
Peroviskite is a promising new material for solar cells, and using it in the spray-painting process holds the potential to cut the cost of generating solar power, and open up many new possibilities for solar. For the first time, the new method combines high efficiency with low cost spray-on material.
In addition, the university researchers explain that the spray-painting process “wastes very little of the persovkite material and can be scaled to high volume manufacturing – similar to applying paint to cars and graphic printing.”
While the best organic solar sells have and efficiency rating of about 10 percent, the new perovskite cells now have efficiencies of up to 19%. Silicon-based cells, which currently dominate the global solar industry, have a around 25%.
The researchers are claiming a significant step forward with this new development. They believe that new thin-film solar technologies such as this will have an important role to play in driving the uptake of solar power. It’s not difficult to see why. Imagine how many more surfaces could be coated with solar cells for generating solar power, when this technology is cheap and easy to apply.