Flexible perovskite developer TubeSolar achieves 14% efficiency on solar films

German photovoltaic (PV) thin-film tubes developer TubeSolar AG (ETR:9TS) has achieved an efficiency record of 14% on solar films in the industrially suitable "roll-to-roll" process as part of its perovskite research activities.

The milestone was reached alongside the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Wuerttemberg (ZSW), TubeSolar announced on Monday.

The company explained that the partners have deposited all layers, except for the front and rear contacts, using slot die. The coating process has achieved a speed that surpassed one metre per minute, according to TubeSolar.

The partners aim at reaching similar levels of efficiency with larger solar films and thus commercialise slot die deposition as an industrially-suitable coating method for flexible perovskite solar cells. Such cells are used for the production of tubular PV panels for agri-photovoltaics and other applications.

“Ideally, perovskite technology should already be used as part of the upscaling of highly automated mass production in the coming year,” TubeSolar noted. The company’s objective is to expand its facility in Augsburg to an annual production capacity of 250 MW in the next few years.

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