Stable and efficient architectures for perovskite solar modules and tandems

The unprecedented fast rise of power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite-based solar cells (PSC) in recent years has created a vast worldwide research activity in this material class for photovoltaic and other opto-electronic applications. Several materials compositions and device architectures have been described and best reported PCE’s yield recently up to 27%. Also improved stability under specific conditions has been shown for specific architectures. Whereas all these results indicate a high potential for this novel solar technology, further steps must be taken to convince industry and even the whole PV community that perovskite-based photovoltaics can really emerge from the lab into industrially applicable solar module processing.
Similarly, the perovskite PV technology has boosted the tandem research whereby perovskite cells and modules are placed on top of other PV devices like Si or CIGS solar cells. Impressive lab scale results surpassing 35% PCE have been reported. New challenges arise when this needs to be upscaled to full wafer or module size.
The challenges ahead to scale up perovskite PV technology to full modules and large area tandems, suitable for long term outdoor use, will be discussed.