While there remains some skepticism as to the viability of perovskites in PV applications, a team from the EPFL has successfully deployed the vacuum-flash solution processing (VASP) method to achieve a 19.6% efficient cell. The EPFL team has made a number of breakthroughs on perovskite PV technology, including in tandem applications.
The EPFL researchers report that this results in a more uniform perovskite cell, with fewer impurities. An additional advantage of the VASP approach over spin-coating is that toxic chlorobenzene is not required to stimulate the growth of the perovskite crystal.
"Its embarrassingly simple," said renowned PV researcher Michael Grätzel, who lead the EPFL team. "The shortcut we have found is to apply this mild [vacuum], just for a few seconds, and that does away with the anti-solvent." Grätzel made the comments when speaking with the Chemistry World publication.
"It [the VASP process] offers a method to get to high-quality electronic grade perovskite at low temperature you never go above 100°C and a very mild vacuum," Grätzel told Chemistry World.
The resulting perovskite film has been described as being "smooth" and "completely cover[ing] the substrate."
Importantly, the stability of the perovskite cell has been improved through the VASP method. The EPFL researchers report the cell remained stable when exposed to air for up to 39 days.
The EPFL cells were independently tested by Newport in the U.S.
At the opening of the recent SNEC conference in Shanghai, the University of New South Wales' Martin Green reported that the progress of perovskites for PV applications has not been as encouraging as first thought.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.