In Swift Solar’s laboratory in Silicon Valley, a quiet industrial neighborhood, a fascinating dance of innovation unfolds. More than a dozen pairs of elbow-length rubber gloves hang suspended in midair, animated by gaseous nitrogen, creating a surreal sight. Within these glass-walled enclosures, the delicate solar materials are safeguarded, as technicians like Roger Thompson diligently work on the next generation of solar technology.
The Promise of Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells
Companies like Swift are at the forefront of a revolution in solar technology, aiming to integrate traditional silicon with perovskites to create solar cells with higher efficiencies. By stacking these materials, solar panels can harness different wavelengths of sunlight, potentially reducing costs and increasing renewable electricity generation.
Challenges on the Horizon
Despite the immense potential, the road to commercializing perovskite tandem solar cells is not without obstacles. These materials are sensitive to environmental factors like water, heat, and light, posing significant challenges for researchers and companies. Time is of the essence, as the market’s confidence in this technology hangs in the balance.
Integrating Perovskites with Silicon
The key to success for perovskites may lie in their integration with established solar technologies like silicon. By leveraging the stability and market confidence of silicon panels, companies hope to propel perovskites into the mainstream solar market. However, this integration comes with its own set of challenges, including durability and scalability.
Research and Development Efforts
Research institutions, startups, and government agencies are pouring resources into developing more stable perovskite tandems. Initiatives backed by the US Department of Energy aim to test configurations that could accelerate the commercialization of these advanced solar cells. Collaboration between academia, industry, and government is crucial in overcoming the technical hurdles.
Endurance
Rand, whose team at Princeton studies how to prevent perovskites from degrading, says the field has made significant progress in the last seven years. Today’s panels are better encapsulated to keep out water. Now he says it’s simply a game of elimination—determining which chemical components in a cell are most likely to react, and swapping them out. But he doesn’t think that further experimentation should hinder commercialization.
“The results are, I think, promising enough to make those investments,” he says. “But it shouldn’t be thought about as a ‘job done.’ There’s still many breakthroughs, mainly with respect to stability, to still emerge.”
Tomas Leijtens, a co-founder and the chief technology officer of Swift, says the company can now expose its cells to temperatures up to 70 °C while operating them in light without degradation. “That was something that was, I would say, unthinkable five years ago,” he says, seated at a table adorned with a hot-pink perovskite model.
However, the industry must ensure that every cell will be that durable; worldwide, companies manufacture hundreds of millions of solar panels every year, each containing dozens of cells. Before they’re used in projects, panels must pass rigorous industry tests, like enduring quick temperature changes, humidity, and hail. Swift, which was founded in 2017, hasn’t started independent tests yet; for now it’s subjecting its cells to some of those conditions in its own lab and has one panel wired
