New solar panels made with perovskite cells in the future could be used on cars, smartphones and even in our clothing, here’s what they look like
For about 50 years, photovoltaic panels have been built with silicon solar cells. For some time researchers have been looking for new materials cheaper or more efficient but the research has always been very long and almost never led to the expected results. That is, until eight years ago, when the first perovskite panels were designed.
Perovskite is a mineral that is normally found in nature. Perovskite photovoltaic panel is made of a different structure than those with solar cells and has a shape more similar to that of diamonds. It is no coincidence that this structure is called a hybrid cell of perovskite. The main advantage of solar panels with this structure is the ease of production. Unlike typical solar panels in which silicon must be melted in high-temperature furnaces and then etched and welded together into cells, perovskite panels can be printed with special 3D printers: this saves both energy and time for production.
How are perovskite solar panels made
One of the major advantages of solar panels with perovskite is their ductility of use, given mainly by the ease of application on other materials, even flexible. The structure of perovskite cells is much less rigid than silicon and can be transformed into flexible panels made of a very thin film and installed on apartment windows, cars, buses and any type of vehicle, on the most diverse electronic equipment and even in clothing and everyday accessories such as watches or bracelets. It must be said that there are already a number of flexible solar cells that can be adapted to multiple surfaces and different shapes but none of these technologies have the efficiency of absorbing sunlight as shown by perovskite cells.
There are not only positive points, however, for these innovative solar panels. Unlike silicon, in fact, perovskite is much more volatile and solar cells with this material tend to deteriorate faster. In addition, counteract the current silicon panels will not be easy since they are on the market for decades. According to many experts in renewable energy for this reason the perovskite solar cells will have different applications that will not compete directly with those silicon. According to some predictions in the near future we will use “traditional” silicon solar panels on the roofs of our homes and offices, while on our vehicles, smartphones, on our jackets or on our watches we can have very small interchangeable perovskite films that will help us to pollute less in everyday life.