(Yicai) July 14 -- A team of scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has successfully created a new type of perovskite-organic tandem solar cells, setting a new record for photoelectric conversion efficiency and taking a crucial step towards practical application.

Through third-party certification, the perovskite-organic tandem solar cells developed by a research team led by Li Yongfang and Meng Lei from the Institute of Chemistry of the CAS can achieve a steady-state photoelectric conversion efficiency of 28.04 percent and maintain 90 percent of the initial efficiency after 625 hours of continuous operation in light, according to a study published in Nature yesterday.

As a new generation photovoltaic technology, perovskite solar cells can achieve large-area flexible manufacturing, which is suitable for applications with high lightweight requirements. Tandem solar cell technology can combine perovskite and organic cells to complement each other in spectral absorption and device stability. It is considered an important direction for next-generation PV technology.

However, perovskite materials can easily suffer from component separation when exposed to light, which causes their performance to rapidly deteriorate, thus limiting the operational efficiency and stability of tandem cells. To solve this problem, researchers have introduced a light convertible additive molecule in the preparation process to stabilize the material and inhibit component separation during light exposure, thereby improving battery performance.

In the future, perovskite-organic tandem solar cells will be adapted to various application scenarios, including surface buildings, transportation, and smart wearable devices. They are also expected to play a role in the aerospace field, including satellites, space stations, and deep space probes, and provide technical support for China’s energy structure transformation and sustainable development.

Editor: Futura Costaglione