CSIRO Sets Record for Next-Gen Roll-to-Roll Printed Solar Cells

Scientists from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, have led an international team to what it calls a breakthrough by setting an efficiency record for fully roll-to-roll printed solar cells. 

Printed onto thin flexible plastic films and incorporating perovskite, the printed solar cells are portable.  

“CSIRO’s thin and light-weight solar cells are now on the cusp of emerging from the lab to create clean energy in the real world,” says Dr. Anthony Chesman, CSIRO’s Renewable Energy Systems Group leader. 

“We’ve solved several engineering problems to achieve record results across a large surface area of interconnected modules. Roll-to-roll printing allows for the solar cells to be manufactured on very long, continuous rolls of plastic, which can dramatically increase the rate of production.  

 As these methods are already widely used in the printing industry, this makes their production more accessible for Australian manufacturers. The successful commercialisation of printed flexible solar cells has the potential to create significant economic and environmental benefits for Australia and the world.”

The results were achieved in collaboration with researchers from the University of Cambridge, Monash University, the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales, and have been published in Nature Communications. 

This activity received funding from ARENA as part of its Research and Development Program: Solar PV Research.