Miracle material solar panels close to commercialisation after breakthrough [Video]

Scientists have figured out a way to mass produce solar panels made out of a so-called miracle material that can massively boost their efficiency.

Perovskite has been hailed for its potential to revolutionise renewable energy, however converting its record-breaking success in the lab into commercial solar panels has proved difficult due to durability and reliability issues.

A major study into possible production methods for the technology has now concluded that a vacuum-based approach could allow the next-generation solar panels to be manufactured on a commercial scale.

A team led by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US found that vacuum processes – used to make everything from smartphones to LEDs – held significant advantages over the solvent-based approach usually used to make lab-scale solar cells.

“Vacuum-based processes have proven themselves in industry for many decades,” said …