Thin-film solar panels have been developed: they can be mounted on anything – from backpacks to cars.

Researchers from the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford have developed a revolutionary approach to making solar energy widespread. They created a multilayer, multispectral coating that is 150 times thinner than a typical silicon solar panel. This coating can be applied to backpacks, the backs of phones, cars and the walls of buildings, radically changing the way we generate electricity.

Image source: Oxford University

«In just five years of experimentation with our stacking or multi-junction [layout] approach, we have increased energy conversion efficiency from about 6% to more than 27%, which is close to the limits of what single-layer PV systems can achieve today,” said Dr. Shuaifeng Hu ( Shuaifeng Hu, Research Fellow in Physics at the University of Oxford. “We believe that over time, this approach will allow photovoltaic devices to achieve much higher efficiencies in excess of 45%.”

Long before the study was published, the team received a certificate for their solar cell from Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). According to the AIST paper, the tandem perovskite solar cell created by the Oxford team has an efficiency of over 27%. But efficiency is not the main point of the invention. The most important thing is that the team has developed a technology for applying the thinnest photocells to almost any substrate.

Moreover, 14 years ago, the Oxford PV company emerged from the university, which is engaged in the commercialization of photovoltaic developments by Oxford University scientists. The company has a production plant in the suburbs of Berlin. At this plant, if you believe the statements of scientists, the production of pilot batches of thin and flexible tandem perovskite solar cells with the characteristics stated above has already started.

This is only the first step towards moving away from silicon, which is heavy and inconvenient for widespread use in solar energy, the researchers believe, and they promise to further improve the characteristics of their development.