IIT-Roorkee researchers develop low-cost solar cells

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee on Tuesday announced that its researchers have successfully developed high-quality, efficient, and low-cost perovskite solar cells. Perovskite solar cells are thin-film devices built with layers of materials, either printed or coated from liquid inks or vacuum-deposited.

The institute said that the power conversion efficiency achieved for the developed perovskite solar cells is 17.05 per cent.

"Perovskite solar cells have demonstrated competitive power conversion efficiencies with potential for higher performance, but their stability is limited compared to leading alternatives. Our main aim is to optimise the efficiency and to reduce the cost of manufacturing for Perovskite solar Cells as much as possible," Prof. Soumitra Satapathi, Department of Physics, IIT Roorkee, said in a statement.

The modified perovskite solar cell leads to the optimum phase distribution, enlarged grain size, and improved crystallinity.

"During the last decade, perovskite solar cells (PSC) have emerged as a potential low-cost photovoltaics technology. The PSCs developed at IIT Roorkee is an important step towards developing efficient and stable solar cells," Prof. K.K. Pant, Director of IIT Roorkee, said in a statement.

"This technological development would boost self-reliance in India in the field of renewable energy," he added.

Moreover, this finding will offer new opportunities and the development of highly efficient perovskite solar cells with long-term operational stability, said the institute.