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In a 2019 research demonstration, a flexible plastic sheet was patterned with microscopic V-shaped grooves. Different charge-collecting contacts coated opposite walls of each groove, while perovskite material filled the space between them. The design produced small back-contact solar devices, including a multi-groove micro-module; it was a research architecture, not evidence of a commercially available product.
What the “groove” design changes
Conventional solar-cell designs often stack charge-extraction layers above or below the light-absorbing material. The microgroove approach instead places the two selective contacts on opposing walls of a narrow trench. Charges travel laterally through the perovskite to those contacts.
The researchers’ rationale was that this back-contact arrangement could avoid light absorption by charge-extraction layers positioned above the active material. That is a design motivation, not proof that back-contact cells always outperform planar cells. The 2019 paper describes the architecture and its measured devices.
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- Emboss the substrate: V-shaped microgrooves were formed in acrylic-coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a flexible plastic. The reported groove widths were roughly 1.6–3 micrometres.
- Coat opposing walls: Directional evaporation deposited electron-selective and hole-selective contacts on opposite groove walls.
- Fill the grooves: A spin-coated methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) precursor formed the perovskite active material inside the grooves.
- Connect grooves into a module: Series-connected grooves formed a micro-module. The architecture avoids conventional front-side electrode patterning, according to the paper.
In this arrangement, light enters the active perovskite region and charges are collected at contacts on the groove walls. The authors presented embossing and directional deposition as processes that may suit high-throughput roll-to-roll manufacturing. That compatibility is a manufacturing rationale, not a demonstration that a commercial production line made modules at the reported performance or cost.
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What the 2019 study measured
Wong-Stringer and co-authors reported these maximum results for their tested research devices:
| Device | Reported result | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| Individual groove | Up to 7.3% power conversion efficiency (PCE) | Maximum reported for an individual groove in the study. |
| Multi-groove micro-module | Up to 4.4% PCE | Maximum reported for a series-connected micro-module. |
| 16-groove micro-module | 14.6 V open-circuit voltage | Voltage measured with no current being drawn; it is not the module’s operating voltage under load. |
These are laboratory-scale results from the 2019 paper, not commercial specifications. Efficiency comparisons need care: the paper discusses using geometric fill factor to account for inactive space between grooves. Device scale, active-area convention, illumination and measurement conditions all affect whether two PCE figures are meaningfully comparable.
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What the stability test does—and does not—show
For preliminary stability work, the researchers stored devices in darkness under nitrogen for 150 days and reported improvement in measured performance metrics during that storage. This result describes a specific inert, dark-storage condition. It does not establish performance under sunlight, humidity, thermal cycling, encapsulated outdoor operation or commercial service conditions, so it should not be read as an outdoor-lifetime estimate.
Why the work mattered, and what remains unproven
The study showed how a flexible substrate, embossed microgrooves and directional contact deposition could be combined in a perovskite micro-module. Its manufacturing interest lies in the possibility of adapting embossing and deposition to roll-to-roll processing, rather than in proof of mass production.
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The paper, “A flexible back-contact perovskite solar micro-module,” appeared in Energy & Environmental Science in 2019. Its authors were affiliated with the University of Sheffield, Power Roll Limited and Ossila Limited; the paper says Power Roll developed and patented the groove architecture. Those affiliations and patent details do not establish that the studied modules are currently available to buy. The paper’s results remain a research demonstration, with commercial output and product availability not established by the cited sources.
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Sources
- Michael Wong-Stringer et al., “A flexible back-contact perovskite solar micro-module,” Energy & Environmental Science 12 (2019), 1928–1937; first published 3 May 2019.
- Ruth Zadik, “Perovskite photovoltaics get their groove on,” Chemistry World, 22 May 2019.
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