Making solar cells commercially viable for everyday use

Solar cells are an important building block for a climate-friendly energy supply. “Roof-top solar cells are not enough. We need to integrate them even more into our everyday lives such as on vehicles, clothing or tents. Solar cells made of perovskite are thin, pliable and inexpensive and could be the solution for such applications,” says physicist Dr. Juliane Borchert. Since July 2022, she has been researching the properties of perovskite-based thin films with a junior research group at the Institute for Sustainable Systems Engineering - INATECH at the University of Freiburg. One of her research goals is to be able to manufacture perovskite solar cells on an industrial scale. In collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, a new generation of thin-film solar cells is to be developed. Borchert obtained funding for the “Optoelectronic Thin Film Materials” research group from the Vector Foundation. The foundation is supporting the scientist and her junior research group with one million euros over the course of four years.

More detailed insights into the growth mechanisms of perovskite layers

“So far, thin-film solar cells made of perovskite can only be produced efficiently in the laboratory. To enable the transfer from laboratory to industrial scale, we want to gain more detailed insights into the growth mechanisms of perovskite layers,” says Borchert. To do this, the researchers are using real-time optical measurement and physical vapor deposition methods.

Borchert studied physics in Berlin, Groningen and Halle-Wittenberg. She then earned her doctorate at the University of Oxford in England and conducted research at the University of Cambridge in England. She was accepted into the Elisabeth Schiemann Kolleg of the Max Planck Society. Alongside her research group at the University of Freiburg, Borchert took over the leadership of the research group “Novel Solar Cell Concepts” at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. This group conducts research on tandem solar cells that combine perovskite and silicon.

About the Vector Foundation
The Vector Foundation supports projects in the areas of research, education and social advocacy in Baden-Württemberg. It is particularly committed to promoting the MINT (mathematics, information technology, natural sciences and technology) disciplines as well as climate and environmental protection.