The world’s first large-area flexible perovskite solar module has achieved record-breaking efficiency, marking a milestone for solar technology and flexible photovoltaics.
Milestone in flexible solar innovation
The first super-efficient photovoltaic module made entirely of perovskite and designed with flexibility in mind has been unveiled. Developed by Chinese company Renshine Solar in collaboration with scientists from Nanjing University and the University of Victoria in Canada, the device was fabricated using a scalable manufacturing strategy that set two world records for this class of solar materials: 27.5% conversion efficiency at the cell level and 23.0% at the module level.
Research meets industry
According to the Chinese university, this achievement was made possible by strong collaboration between academia and industry.
“Basic research must be approached from an industrial perspective,” said Tan Hairen, professor at Nanjing University and lead researcher. “Universities excel at advancing molecular mechanisms and material properties, while companies better understand practical application needs, such as industrial feasibility and laboratory performance under real-world conditions. The two must resonate at the same frequency.”
Dynamic solvent modulation
The team focused on an innovative thermal treatment of wet perovskite films to overcome one of the main bottlenecks in developing flexible perovskite solar modules.
For years, fabricating devices on thin, non-rigid substrates relied on spin coating combined with an anti-solvent process, which made it difficult to produce uniform, high-quality perovskite films. This drawback resulted in far lower efficiencies compared to rigid cells, especially in large-area modules.
The researchers replaced conventional methods with a process that allows dynamic modulation of additives during crystallization. Specifically, the technique introduces additives into wet perovskite films under continuous gas cooling, precisely controlling the crystallization process.
“Preparing flexible modules is like painting on a rough canvas, where cracks and holes easily form as the solvent evaporates. Our research acts as a repair of the film,” explained Li Manya, first author of the study. “Through ionic channels, we can deliver additives precisely to defects, maximizing film quality on flexible substrates.”
Results and performance
The new method enabled the creation of wide-bandgap perovskite films measuring 30 × 40 cm² directly on plastic substrates under ambient conditions. The result was a solar cell with 27.5% efficiency that was successfully scaled up into a large-area module (20.26 cm²). The panel achieved a certified efficiency of 23.0% with a fill factor of 95.8%.
Equally notable, the flexible perovskite solar module demonstrated excellent mechanical stability. With a bending radius of 10 mm (equivalent to 1% tensile strain), it withstood 10,000 bends while retaining more than 97% of its initial efficiency. It also showed strong resilience under thermal cycling (-40 °C to 85 °C), MPPT testing, and UV preconditioning.
“This approach can make flexible photovoltaics truly useful, as we are pursuing solutions driven by practical goals,” said Professor Li Yongxi of Nanjing University, corresponding co-author of the paper.
The results are detailed in the article “In situ coating strategy for flexible all-perovskite tandem modules”, published in Nature Photonics.
