These flexible solar panels are six times as efficient as their predecessors

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The solar cells were developed by researchers at the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). Unlike traditional solar panels, these can be wrapped around a coil. In the past, researchers have already succeeded in producing such cells, but they had an efficiency, the amount of sunlight that can be converted into usable energyfrom only one to two percent.

Perovskite

CSIRO’s cells have an efficiency of 11 percent. That is still only half of commercial ones solar panels, but it is a sixfold increase compared to old techniques. CSIRO’s cells are each 50 square centimeters in size and use perovskite, a material that is found everywhere on Earth and is cheap.

Perovskite is better at converting energy than silicon, the material currently used in most solar panels. However, perovskite-based solar cells lose their capacity faster than traditional cells.

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Scalable and cheap

The scientists acknowledge this disadvantage in their research, which is published in a professional journal Nature Communications has been published. Yet they are convinced that the technology can be commercialized once that problem can be solved.

The production method they developed is scalable and, according to the scientists, not expensive. CSIRO is now looking for industry partners to further develop the technology.

Recently, scientists in Singapore also developed it most efficient solar panel in the world, which can achieve an efficiency of 27.1 percent.

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