New Perovskite Solar Treatment Cuts Costs By 10%

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So much for American Energy Dominance. Despite President* Trump’s fixation on fossil energy, renewables are on track to dominate the global economy as costs continue to fall. In the latest development, the US startup BlueDot Photonics has created a new perovskite solar formula that enables a 16% increase in the solar conversion efficiency of silicon solar panels, leading to a 10% drop in the cost of solar power.

Perovskite Solar Cells Are Coming For Your Fossil Fuels

BlueDot was in the news last week on account of its acquisition by the New Mexico startup UbiQD (pronounced “ubiquity”), including BlueDot’s perovskite solar cell technolgy.

We’ll get to UbiQD in a minute, but first let’s see what BlueDot has been up to. BlueDot surfaced on the CleanTechnica radar in 2021, as an up-and-comer in the synthetic perovskite field.

Synthetic perovskite solar material is based on the crystalline structure of the naturally occurring mineral perovskite. As applied to solar cells, it is a tricky, finicky substance to work with. Nevertheless, back in 2009 the US Department of Energy promoted perovskite solar technology as a low cost alternative to conventional silicon solar cells that would lead to a game-changing drop in the cost of solar panels (see lots more perovskite background here).

The relatively low cost of perovskite is just one cost-cutting factor. Perovskite solar cells can be fabricated as a solution and transferred into a thin film, meaning they can be manufactured with high volume roll-to-roll systems that minimize waste.

BlueDot has expanded the field by focusing its attention on applying perovskite to silicon solar panels. In 2021, the company’s perovskite-doped manufacturing system got a vote of confidence from the GCxN clean energy accelerator hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a program that launched in 2018 with funding from Shell.

That same year, NREL also organized a new consortium of perovskite solar stakeholders including BlueDot along with Energy Materials Corporation, First Solar, Hunt Perovskites Technologies (now CubicPV), Swift Solar, and Tandem PV.

In addition, in 2021 BlueDot closed a $1 million Seed Series round spearheaded by VoLo Earth Ventures. Also participating were Clean Energy Venture Group and the E8, with VertueLab chiming in later.

BlueDot also caught the eye of the US branch of the Japanese firm Hamamatsu Photonics.

“We’ve been impressed with BlueDot Photonics, which is developing a unique optical technology to improve the efficiency of solar power generation, and through investment, we hope to contribute to climate change countermeasures,” explained HP President and CEO Akira Hiruma in a press statement.

“Having Hamamatsu as a strategic partner is a big win for us. They are photonics experts, and their engagement will help us avoid commercialization pitfalls and identify new opportunities for our products,” explained BlueDot CEO Jared Silvia.

Perovskite Solar Cells And The Thin Film Connection

If you caught that thing about First Solar in the perovskite solar consortium, that’s significant because it leads up to UbiQD’s interest in BlueDot.

NREL has had a decades-long collaboration with First Solar, aimed at enabling thin film solar technology to compete on cost against silicon solar cells, which are more expensive but also more efficient.

As a branch of the US Department of Energy, NREL had the global market in mind. Silicon solar cells were invented in the US and the solar industry grew up here, but by the end of the 19th century US firms could no longer compete against the cheaper silicon solar cells manufactured elsewhere. Thin film technology offered a potential way to turn the table, and now all that hard work is beginning to pay off.

Among other activities, First Solar launched a new thin film solar factory in Alabama last year and another one in Louisiana. The company also opened the doors to an elaborate new solar research facility in Ohio.

In the meantime, First Solar has also been collaborating with UbiQD on next-generation solar technology, with one line of exploration being the application of UBiQD’s fluorescent quantum dot technology to solar modules.

“Quantum dots (QD) are photoluminescent particles so small that it would take 100,000 of them to span one fingernail,” explains UbiQD. In addition to solar cells, the company lists microgrids, smart buildings, greenhouses, and agrivoltaics among other applications.

A 16% Boost From Perovskite Solar Technology

In addition to the First Solar connection, UbiQD has also been collaborating on clean energy applications with the Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboritory, and it has received funding from the New Mexico Economic Development Department.

With the BlueDot move, UbiQD has taken a big step towards feeding its quantum dot technology into the solar industry. “The acquisition of BlueDot signals a growing momentum in solar for UbiQD, which has been building a business unit focused specifically on developing down-conversion products for the industry,” UbiQD states.

UbiQD describes the BlueDot difference as a “transformative approach with quantum cutting.” In effect, the technology multiplies photons.

“By leveraging BlueDot’s innovative doped perovskite materials, which convert high-energy photons into nearly twice as many lower-energy photons, this technology could increase silicon solar panel efficiency by up to 16%,” UbiQD explains.

“This breakthrough has the potential to reduce the cost of solar energy generation and push photovoltaic performance beyond the theoretical limits of traditional silicon-based cells,” the company adds.

Perovskite Solar Cells Are Coming For Your Fossil Fuels, Part Infinity

By theoretical limit, UbiQD means the Shockley-Quiessar goalpost for solar cells that deploy two kinds of materials. Conventional solar cells fit the bill because they deploy two different silicon variants.

The Shockley-Quiessar limit has been tweaked a bit around the edges since first established in the 19th century, and now perovskite solar technology has come along to blow past it. Solar innovators have been boosting silicon past its theoretical limit by adding perovskites to the mix.

It’s a win-win, with silicon contributing durability and superior solar conversion efficiency while perovskites cut costs. BlueDot asserts that its technology fosters a 10% drop in the cost of solar power.

Perovskite solar technology is not the only game in town. Keep an eye out for new activity in the emerging field of bifacial solar panels, too.

*As expected, Trump is overthrowing the US government with substantial assistance from Tesla CEO Elon Musk. If you have any thoughts about that, drop a note in the comment thread or better yet, contact your representatives in Congress.

Photo (cropped): The US startup UbiQD aims to expand its quantum dot activity with perovskite solar technology that boosts silicon solar panel efficiency by 16% (courtesy of UbiQD).