Perovskite Solar Cells Meet Textile Ceramic Technology

A new generation of low cost, high-performing solar technology is emerging in the form of perovskite solar cells. A new building material that consists of ceramic tiles mounted on flexible steel netting is also beginning to catch on. Put them together, and you have a unique new opportunity to transform ordinary buildings into clean power generating stations.

Rooftop solar panels are already commonplace, but they are just one relatively small part of the potential for incorporating solar cells into buildings. The US Department of Energy points out that far more opportunities for harvesting clean energy arise when solar cells are merged directly into the building materials themselves.

“Different from the traditional rooftop solar market, BIPV is a set of emerging solar energy applications that replace conventional building materials with solar generating materials in various parts of a structure, like the roof, skylights, balustrades, awnings, facades, or windows,” the Energy Department notes, referring to the field of building-integrated photovoltaics.

“Perhaps the most common forms of BIPV are carports or parking shade structures with PV panels built directly into them,” the Energy Department adds.

From an aesthetic perspective none of this sounds particularly exciting. Conventional silicon solar cells still dominate the rooftop area. They are heavy, rigid, and opaque, leaving architects and their clients with a narrow range of design choices for other applications. That is a problem if the aim is to accelerate the use of solar technology the construction industry.

Thin film solar is a second-generation technology that is lightweight, flexible, and transparent, offering a wider range of applications. However, the use cases for thin film solar can be limited by its relatively high cost and low solar conversion efficiency.

On the bright side, the cost of thin film solar has been coming down, and solar innovators have been improving solar conversion efficiency as well. Perovskite solar cells are among the third-generation developments in the thin film field. Based on the structure of the naturally occurring mineral perovskite, synthetic peroskite crystals can be grown in a lab, mixed into a solution, and painted or printed onto a variety of surfaces using low-cost manufacturing processes.

The first perovskite solar cells appeared in 2009 with a conversion efficiency of just 3.8%. In a relatively short time it has shot up to the more respectable range of 20% and more, as research teams around the world explore the potential of perovskites to foster a game-changing drop in the cost of solar energy, while widening the field of applications as well (see more perovskite background here).

There being no such thing as a free lunch, earlier iterations of perovskite solar technology suffered from durability issues. Still, researchers were persistent, attracted by the potential for combining affordability with performance. They have come up with solutions, such as solar cells that incorporate both silicon and perovskite, and now the building materials industry is getting involved.

One area of exploration is a relatively new form of textile ceramic technology, in which ceramic tiles are attached to a flexible netting made of steel. The system was developed, patented and introduced into the building industries market in the early 2000’s under the Spanish firm Flexbrick.

The Flexbrick construction method provides designers with practically limitless options for creating unique new building facades, with the added benefit of saving energy by shielding the interior from excess heat. With the addition of solar cells, Flexbricks could harvest solar energy as well, helping to realize the goal of net zero buildings.

The idea of combining textile ceramic technology with perovskite solar cells is described in the November 8 edition of the journal Construction and Building Materials under the title, “Design of perovskite solar brick for textile ceramic technology.”

“Perovskite exhibits excellent optical, electrical and magnetic properties. Colour and transparency can be tuned by simply changing the chemical composition of the perovskite absorber; last but not least, perovskite can be fabricated on thin flexible substrates, such as plastics and metal foils, providing interestingly high power-to-weight ratios,” the research team notes.

“All these characteristics and properties makes the perovskite an attractive option for BIPV,” they emphasize.

For the benefit of architects and designers, the researchers also note that the ceramic pieces “can have different colours, geometries and can be placed horizontally, vertically, and even randomly on the steel grid with the objective of doing a facade or roof lattice to protect the building from the sun.”

The study represents an initial exploration of the concept, with the aim of demonstrating that the solar cells provide for functionality, high performance, and aesthetic appeal when incorporated into textile ceramics.

The circular economy was another area of focus. One of the team’s goals was to design for deconstruction, allowing the ceramic tile to be separated from the mesh for recycling both components of their “Solar Brick.”

In addition, the all-important element of cost played a leading role in the study. The team aimed to develop a standardized system that can be installed without specialized training.

So far, so good. The initial tests presented the research team with evidence that perovskite solar cells are a good match for textile ceramics, though they note that modifications to the ceramic pieces will need to be revised. For the testing regime, they cut a groove in the pieces, which reduced their ability to withstand hail and other stresses. Still, the pieces demonstrated “good performance” on impact tests. “The behaviour of the PSM [perovskite solar modules] is barely affected by a hard body,” the team noted.

“More tests must be carried out, but the obtained results in these preliminary tests showed here are promising,” they concluded.

Stay tuned for more on that. In the meantime, keep an eye on that thing about combining perovskite with silicon. In the latest development, a large team of researchers based at Saudi Arabia’s KAUST Solar Center report a solar conversion efficiency of 31.2% for their new tandem perovskite-silicon solar cells.

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Image: A new building material that deploys perovskite solar cells to harvest clean power is taking shape in the field of textile ceramic technology (courtesy of Flexbrick).

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