A team of Australian researchers are claiming a world first in a global race to develop cheaper, more flexible and more efficient solar panels after their experimental cell passed a series of heat and humidity tests.
Using a type of crystal material known as perovskite, the group found that a simple glass and synthetic rubber coating around the cell was enough to stop it from degrading too quickly.
Research teams around the world are working with different formulations of the perovskite crystals – seen as a potential game-changer for the solar industry.
Solar cells that use the crystals to convert sunlight to an electrical current are about 500 times thinner than those that use silicon – the material that’s been the basis for solar cells since the 1950s.
Scientists have been working on perovskite solar cells for only about a decade, but have already raised their levels of efficiency at converting sunlight to about 25% – a level that has taken about 40 years to achieve with silicon-based cells.
