Perovskites – A Research to Reality

Most of the solar panels commercially deployed are made from the silicon cells. But research into other materials and strategies is underway in laboratories around the world. Some of the most promising recent research for silicon alternatives has involved materials called perovskites. The word “perovskite” is also used for synthetic compounds that have the same orthorhombic crystal structure as the naturally occurring mineral (or a closely related one) and share a structurally similar chemical formula. Depending on which elements are used, perovskites can display a wide variety of useful properties, such as superconductivity, giant magnetoresistance and photovoltaic activity. Their use in PV cells has generated a great deal of optimism, as they have shown an unprecedented increase in efficiency from 3.8 percent to 20.1 percent in the past seven years of laboratory research. This rapid rate of progress inspires confidence that further gains are likely, especially as the factors limiting efficiency are becoming clearer.