These technologies form the basis for the development of flexible perovskite solar cells that enable environmentally friendly next-generation solar energy, according to the Fraunhofer Institute for Electron Beam and Plasma Technology (FEP). The project will be presented at the pro flex conference for roll-to-roll coating of flexible materials on May 6 and 7 in Dresden.
Application of anodic arc evaporation expanded
Among other things, the Fraunhofer FEP is investigating the suitability of the anodic arc evaporation process it has developed for perovskite photovoltaics. This process uses a special electron source (hollow cathode arc discharge) and offers advantages in the adjustment of layer parameters for a variety of materials. The combination of evaporation and plasma processes enables precise adjustment of the layer properties.
Previous projects have already shown that anodic arc evaporation can produce high-quality, droplet-free and smooth, extremely hard carbon coatings (ta-C coatings) for hard material coatings. The gentle deposition of transparent, conductive layers for the next generation of silicon heterojunction solar cells could also be carried out using anodic arc evaporation.
Until now, the method could only be used for electrically conductive materials. In the Luminosity project, however, initial results were achieved for the deposition of tin oxide and caesium iodide. Tin oxide is an important material for the production of flexible solar cells. The aim here is to deposit protective and electrical functional layers in a gentle manner without damaging the areas underneath.
Coating process can be easily scaled up
The evaporation of caesium iodide shows that the deposition of the active perovskite semiconductor layer using this process could also be of great interest in the future. The coating process can be easily scaled in terms of coating width by combining several evaporator modules.
The Luminosity project will be presented at the pro flex conference taking place on May 6 and 7 at the Fraunhofer FEP in Dresden with a presentation by Herbert Lifka from HyET Solar: "Scaling up a Roll to Roll line for flexible PV-modules".
The Luminosity consortium consists of 15 European partners, including research organizations, universities and private companies. They are:
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH
Fraunhofer Institute for Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Hyet Solar B.V.
Eindhoven University of Technology
Lund University
Delft University of Technology
Amires, The Business Innovation Management Institute, z. ú.
Infinity PV ApS
Von Ardenne Ltd.
University of Hasselt
LPKF SolarQuipment GmbH
Cyprus University of Technology
Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa)
The project coordinator is the Dutch Organization for Applied Scientific Research TNO.