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A new kind of solar cell is coming: is it the future of green energy?

Firms commercializing perovskite–silicon ‘tandem’ photovoltaics say that the panels will be more efficient and could lead to cheaper electricity.
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  1. Mark Peplow

    1. Mark Peplow is a science journalist in Penrith, UK.

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Rooftop Solar Energy Facility In Yongzhou, China.

Rooftop solar panels in China. Tandem cells could boost power density in crowded urban areas. Credit: VCG/Getty

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On the outskirts of Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany, nestled among car dealerships and hardware shops, sits a two-storey factory stuffed with solar-power secrets. It’s here where UK firm Oxford PV is producing commercial solar cells using perovskites: cheap, abundant photovoltaic (PV) materials that some have hailed as the future of green energy. Surrounded by unkempt grass and a weed-strewn car park, the factory is a modest cradle for such a potentially transformative technology, but the firm’s chief technology officer Chris Case is clearly in love with the place. “This is the culmination of my dreams,” he says.

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Nature 623, 902-905 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03714-y

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