Experts from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and the University of Cambridge have created a method of spray-coating a photovoltaic active layer by an air based process – similar to spraying regular paint from a can – to develop a cheaper technique which can be mass produced. The trick is to coat an object in perovskite, a calcium titanium oxide mineral — it’s inexpensive like organic solar cells, but absorbs light nearly as well as silicon. The spray-based cell gets about 11 percent efficiency versus 19 percent at perovskite’s ideal performance.
The research team reports, “We now do most of our research using spray coating.”
The following video shows the application of the spray coating on a flat surface.
For more information:
- To view the paper online please visit: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1614-6840
- http://www.shef.ac.uk/news/nr/solar-photovoltaic-pv-spray-painting-lidzey-1.251912
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