Ningde Era Enters Perovskite Solar Cells, Or Becomes An Industry Catalyst

Perovskite, which has attracted much attention in the industry, has ushered in a heavyweight player-power battery giant CATL is preparing to establish a perovskite research team to enter the photovoltaic field. On May 5, Zeng Yuqun, chairman of CATL, said at the performance briefing that the company's research on perovskite photovoltaic cells is progressing smoothly and a pilot line is being built.

As early as 2020, there was news that CATL formed a technical team to enter perovskite. It is understood that by supporting CATL to accelerate the development of new perovskite solar power generation materials, the cost can be reduced by more than half, and industrialization will be achieved in 2023. According to people familiar with the matter, CATL has recently been recruiting perovskite researchers everywhere to join the team. CATL previously planned to acquire the GCL Nano team under GCL Group, which is dedicated to perovskite research, but it failed to do so due to various reasons.

Public information shows that Ningde Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. was established in 2011. It is one of the first domestic power battery manufacturers with international competitiveness, focusing on the research and development, production and sales of new energy vehicle power battery systems and energy storage systems. , is committed to providing first-class solutions for global new energy applications. The core technologies include the R&D and manufacturing capabilities of the entire industry chain in the field of power and energy storage batteries, materials, cells, battery systems, and battery recycling and secondary utilization.

In 2017, the company's power lithium battery shipments were far ahead in the world, reaching 11.84GWh. It has established cooperative relations with many domestic mainstream car companies, and has successfully occupied a place in the global market. It has also become the first domestic lithium-ion power battery manufacturer to enter the supply chain of top international car companies. In 2018, Ningde Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Its current market value is 430 billion yuan, making it one of the few companies with a market value of 100 billion yuan in the energy and power industry.

In fact, perovskites are becoming the "darling" of the photovoltaic material industry. From academic research to industrialization teams, perovskites have attracted several scientific research teams and companies to join them. At present, in addition to Hangzhou Fiberna Optoelectronics, GCL Nano, and Oxford Photovoltaics, there are Wuxi Jidian Optoelectronics, Hangzhou Zhongneng Optoelectronics, Zhijing Technology, Shanghai Liyuan New Energy, and Huaneng's Clean Energy Technology Research Institute. Titanium has been researched in depth.

Compared with crystalline silicon solar cells that require high-purity silicon, perovskite cells only need to have a material purity of 90%, and the low-temperature process used can reduce energy consumption, and the perovskite material consumed per unit area of perovskite components is also much lower. for crystalline silicon components. Therefore, perovskite cells and components have great potential for cost reduction. Public information shows that when the production capacity of perovskite components reaches more than 1GW, its cost is expected to be reduced to 0.7 yuan/W.

Judging from the current progress of perovskite industrialization, the progress has far exceeded expectations. Currently certified perovskite cells have a conversion efficiency of 25.2% - from Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology & MIT; single-layer theoretical efficiency of new perovskite photovoltaic cells can be Up to 31%, the conversion efficiency of perovskite tandem cells, including crystalline silicon/perovskite double-layer stacks, can reach 35%, and the theoretical efficiency of perovskite triple-layer cells can reach more than 45%;

From February 2017 to December 2019, the perovskite photovoltaic modules with independent intellectual property rights of Hangzhou Fiberna Optoelectronics set the world's highest efficiency record for five consecutive times. The photoelectric conversion efficiency of small modules increased from 12.1% to 15.2% to 18.04%, an increase of nearly 6 percentage points.

In November 2019, the perovskite module efficiency of Panasonic Corporation of Japan reached a new high, achieving a photoelectric conversion efficiency of 16.1% on a module area of 800-6500cm², setting a new world record.

In December 2019, Hangzhou Fiber Nano Optoelectronics perovskite module passed the relevant IEC standards, becoming the world's first stability test to pass independent third-party testing. more than 5%.

In July 2020, Fiber Nano Optoelectronics announced that it has made significant progress in the stability of perovskite small components with an area of 20 cm². In the damp heat test, the aging time of the module was increased from the previous 1000 hours to 3000 hours (3 times longer than the IEC damp heat test Damp heat test), and the conversion efficiency of the module was not attenuated. At the same time, the UV pretreatment experiment used a dose of 100 kWh (equivalent to more than 6.5 times the IEC testing standard), and the module efficiency attenuation was less than 2%. The above results show that the perovskite technology of Fiber Nano Optoelectronics has solved the world-class problem of component stability, meets the market access conditions, and has a service life of more than 25 years.

The cross-border entry of Ningde era into perovskite may be a catalyst for this industry that is still in the initial stage of industrialization. "The Ningde era has abundant funds, which is a good thing for the industry." Some industry analysts believe that if the Ningde era tries to enter the photovoltaic industry, the most similar process to the lithium battery is perovskite, both of which have coating processes. However, some people explained that the coating process of perovskite is more complicated, but in the long run, the development space of lithium batteries is not necessarily longer than that of photovoltaics.