The project has received €2.8 million ($3.24 million) from the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy as part of its wider investment program into renewable energy development.
The consortium led by Oxford PV additionally comprises VON ARDENNE GmbH, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, and the Technical University of Berlin.
The project will focus on preparing perovskite solar cell technology for high volume manufacturing. This will include the optimization of the perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell architecture, to make further efficiency improvements on industrial 156 mm x 156 mm wafer formats; the refinement of industrial scale process technology; and life-cycle analysis to inform the social-environmental impact of the tandem solar cells.
Frank P. Averdung, Chief Executive Officer at Oxford PV commented, "The German Government's investment recognizes the opportunity perovskite solar technology has to dramatically enhance the performance of solar energy generation. Oxford PV has made substantial progress in scaling and preparing its technology for high volume manufacturing. With commercial sized tandem cells already in production at our pilot line - it is now a matter of further optimizing the process, in preparation for commercial deployment."
Last month Oxford PV achieved a world record certified efficiency of 27.3 percent for its perovskite solar cell. This exceeded the 26.7 percent efficiency world record for a single junction silicon solar cell - validating the ability of perovskite to enhance the performance of silicon-based photovoltaics. Oxford PV's perovskite-silicon solar cell technology roadmap extends beyond 30 percent efficiency.
