Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.: Solar-Tectic LLC announced January 19 that a patent application for a germanium perovskite thin film tandem solar cell has been allowed by the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Wikipedia describes perovskite solar cells as a type based on a particular class of complex compound, “most commonly a hybrid organic-inorganic lead or tin halide-based material, as the light-harvesting active layer. Perovskite materials such as methylammonium lead halides are cheap to produce and simple to manufacture.”
Recently perovskite materials have gained much attention as a solution to the longstanding problem of solar cell efficiency. Crystalline thin-film germanium promises to be more efficient and less expensive than silicon and germanium wafer technology due to low temperature processing and less material use.
Importantly, the entire process is non-toxic since germanium is non-toxic and tin (Sn) is used to deposit the crystalline germanium thin-film material for the bottom layer in the tandem configuration; there is no toxic lead (Pb). The technology is the very first of its kind and the company believes it is a good candidate for world-wide production.
Solar-Tectic LLC is a thin-film specialist with patented technology primary focused on developing highly textured, single crystal semiconductor films on glass or other inexpensive substrates.