from Hacker News

Why perovskites could be the key to cheap, efficient solar energy

by tpoindex on 1/3/22, 3:03 PM with 22 comments

• by pbalcer on 1/4/22, 7:58 AM

  There's a company in Europe, Saule Technologies [1], that is claiming to be already capable of large scale commercialization of perovskites. It seems you can even buy/license it (B2B). The article seems to suggest that the biggest obstacle for market-readiness for this type of product is endurance. However, Saule on their FAQ website are claiming that their products have an initial lifetime of several years [2]. I also found this article from MIT Technology Review [3] where it's stated that "Oxford PV, Microquanta, and Saule all say they’ve solved the stability issue, at least well enough to sell their first products."

  So, who's right? Is the article overstating the stability problem or are these companies over-promising?

  [1] - https://sauletech.com/technology/

  [2] - https://sauletech.com/faq/

  [3] - https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/06/29/1027451/perovski...

• by photochemsyn on 1/4/22, 4:17 AM

  Monocrystalline silicon is the best option for long-lived electricity-generating purposes, but perovskites could have interesting industrial applications in particular solar hydrogen. In such systems you'd expect to have a production line replacing worn-out peroskites on a steady basis[1]

  [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S20954... "Perovskite – A wonder catalyst for solar hydrogen production Jun 2021"

• by acjohnson55 on 1/4/22, 4:12 AM

  > Sure, a triangle of pizza is pizza and a triangle, but it could be topped with pepperoni and cheese, or maybe sausage, but pies have also been garnished with coconut, peanuts, and squid.

  That certainly is...a sentence.

• by walrus01 on 1/4/22, 3:22 AM

  I'm seeing pallet loads of STC 360W rated silicon based (mono or poly) PV modules at $0.42/watt to $0.51/watt now, how much cheaper are we talking here?

• by onecommentman on 1/4/22, 4:33 AM

  My uncle warned me off polycrystalline silicon as being the perennial “technology of the future”.

  That comment was made well over 40 years ago.

• by AtlasBarfed on 1/4/22, 6:06 PM

  Perovskite issues that still seem prevalent since they became a hype thing 3 years ago:

  - stability when exposed to oxygen (as in they don't last in the real world)

  - lead (disposal issues, which are important because they don't last)

  Have things improved recently? I'm going to assume that the "Colorado Sun" won't represent state of the art.

• by bobjoeguy on 1/4/22, 8:03 PM

  Let’s not forget tandem cells that use both silicon and perovskite to achieve almost double the efficiency (~65%). It’s likely that the future of cheap energy could be the joint force of both of these amazing technologies.