Confirmed by the international testing centre Newport in Bozeman, Montana, the result sets a new world efficiency record for the perovskite photovoltaic cell certified with the highest energy conversion efficiency.
Led by the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) senior research fellow Dr Anita Ho-Baillie, the team also achieved an 18% efficiency rating on a 1.2cm2 single perovskite cell, and an 11.5% for a 16cm2 four-cell perovskite mini-module.
The cell is said to be 10 times larger than the current certified high-efficiency perovskite cells on record.
Ho-Baillie said: “This is a very hot area of research, with many teams competing to advance photovoltaic design.
“Perovskites came out of nowhere in 2009, with an efficiency rating of 3.8%, and have since grown in leaps and bounds.
“These results place UNSW among the best groups in the world producing state-of-the-art high performance perovskite solar cells. And I think we can get to 24% within a year or so.”
The team is currently working to increase the efficiency of the perovskite solar cell efficiency to 26%.
ACAP director and Ho-Baillie's mentor Martin Green said: "We will capitalize on the advantages of perovskites and continue to tackle issues important for commercialization, like scaling to larger areas and improving cell durability.”
UNSW said that the research is supported by $3.6m funding through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency’s (ARENA) ‘solar excellence’ initiative.
Image: The Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) senior research fellow Dr Anita Ho-Baillie with perovskite cell. Photo: courtesy of University of New South Wales (UNSW).
