The laboratory of photovoltaics and thin-films electronics (PV-lab) of IEM, founded in 1984 by Prof. Arvind Shah and headed by Prof. Christophe Ballif since 2004, has pioneered several new processes for the preparation of thin-film silicon, such as the introduction of very high frequency (VHF) plasma deposition and microcrystalline silicon as an efficient photovoltaic material, and simple processing of heterojunction crystalline cells. Current activities of the laboratory cover a broad spectrum, ranging from fundamental research to industrial technology transfer. The lab masters processes of device fabrication for a wide variety of transparent conductive oxides, thin-film solar cells and high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells. It also has expertise for specialty detectors. It has full facilities for packaging of PV products. It has been designated as a center of national importance by the Swiss Federal Office for Energy.

PV-lab is a founding partner of the CSEM PV-center, which started operation in 2013 with a focus on technology transfer, and industrialisation of technologies.

LATEST NEWS

© 2024 EPFL

Congratulations to our last successful Phd Students!

— Three PhD students from PV-Lab successfully defended their thesis recently. Congratulations to all new Doctors of PV-Lab (Ebrar, Marine, and Simon) and good luck in their future adventures!

© 2025, Nano Energy

Paper alert – bifacial perovskite-Si tandems via hybrid method!

— Happy to share our new article 'Bifacial perovskite/silicon heterojunction tandem solar cells based on FAPbI3-based perovskite via hybrid evaporation-spin coating' published in Nano Energy. 

© 2024, EPFL, UNIL, clim-act

Renewable Energy vs Biodiversity: a major report!

— Renewable Energy vs Biodiversity: a major report following one year of intense work of various Swiss Institutions and PV-lab. Check the reviewed report here and the executive summary below. A lot of fruitful exchanges between two communities that follow similar targets (a healthier, bio-diverse and temperature-controlled work) but have sometimes challenges in understanding each other. Thanks to Sascha Nick for coordinating and dynamising the extended work brillantly!

© 2024, Christophe Ballif, along with Rector Prof. Majdic.

A look back at Ljubljana: the editorial of Prof. Christophe Ballif

— A look back at Ljubljana: Prof. Christophe Ballif's editorial for the Lujbjana’s University newsletter, Dec 2nd, 2024. Partnerships and communication in science in a time of disinformation!

© 2024, Advanced Materials

Paper alert – Linking Nanoscopic Insights to Millimetric-Devices!

— Happy to share our new article 'Linking Nanoscopic Insights to Millimetric-Devices in Formamidinium-Rich Perovskite Photovoltaics', published in Advanced Materials.  In this review, the phase instabilities in state-of-the-art formamidinium (FA)-rich perovskite absorbers are discussed. Challenges in the field are assessed and future research directions are proposed for improving the operational lifetimes of perovskite devices. These approaches, which bridge nanoscale structural properties to working solar cell devices, are believed to be critical to assessing the realization of a bankable PSC product.' Link to article

© 2024, Prof. Marko Topic (left), Prof. Ballif and Prof. Majdic, Rector

Christophe Ballif awarded the title of 'Doctor Honoris Causa'

— Christophe receives on Dec. 3rd, the title of Doctor Honoris Causa for his outstanding scientific achievements and long-term collaboration with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Ljubljana.

© 2024, EUPVSEC

One conference, two awards – EUPVSEC 2024 Vienna!

— Big congratulations to Marie Courtant from EPFL PV-lab for winning a Best Oral Presentation Student Award at #EUPVSEC2024 in Vienna for her work on "Novel Colorimetry Approach for Building Integrated Photovoltaics" as part of the Increase project and Dr. Reyu Sakakibara for winning a Best Poster Award with her poster '' Investigating Interfacial Phenomena in Copper-Covered, n-Type Polysilicon-Based Contacts by Electron Microscopy'' a part of the COMET project supported by the Swiss Federal Office for Energy.

© 2024 BKW

Paru dans la feuille d'avis de Courtelary le 13.09.2024

— Paru dans la feuille d’avis de Courtelary le 13.09.2024 « Je travaille depuis 30 ans dans le photovoltaïque : la Suisse devrait installer de nombreux parcs éoliens ! «

© 2024, Wiley

Paper alert – intrinsic performance loss rate of PV systems!

— Happy to share our new article 'Intrinsic performance loss rate: Decoupling reversible and irreversible losses for an improved assessment of photovoltaic system performance', published in Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications. This study discusses the integration of fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) with performance loss rate (PLR) evaluations of PV systems to filter out reversible losses like shading, snow and downtime, which can bias PLR estimates.

© 2024, ACS AM&I

Paper alert – Blade-Coating of High Crystallinity CsFA perovskites!

— PV-Lab is happy to share that our latest paper "Blade-Coating of High Crystallinity Cesium-Formamidinium Perovskite Formulations" has been published in ACS AM&I! This work has been dedicated to the transfer of the optimized Cs0.15FA0.85PbI3 film deposition from a lab-scale process to a more industrially compatible coating method, i.e., blade-coating on the way to scaling up for perovskite solar cells. 

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RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Improving the operational stability of perovskite solar cells with cesium-doped graphene oxide interlayer

M. Almalki; K. Anagnostou; K. Rogdakis; F. T. Eickemeyer; M. Othman et al. 

Journal Of Energy Chemistry. 2024-09-01. Vol. 96, p. 483-490. DOI : 10.1016/j.jechem.2024.04.037.

Correlating long-term performance and aging behaviour of building integrated PV modules

E. Ozkalay; A. Virtuani; G. Eder; Y. Voronko; P. Bonomo et al. 

Energy And Buildings. 2024-08-01. Vol. 316, p. 114252. DOI : 10.1016/j.enbuild.2024.114252.

From PV to EV: Mapping the Potential for Electric Vehicle Charging with Solar Energy in Europe

N. Jeannin; A. Pena Bello; J. Dumoulin; D. Wannier; C. Ballif et al. 

International Journal of Sustainable Energy Planning and Management. 2024-06-19. Vol. 41, p. 45-57. DOI : 10.54337/ijsepm.8151.

Intrinsic performance loss rate: Decoupling reversible and irreversible losses for an improved assessment of photovoltaic system performance

H. Quest; C. Ballif; A. Virtuani 

Progress In Photovoltaics. 2024-06-17. DOI : 10.1002/pip.3829.

Alleviating nanostructural phase impurities enhances the optoelectronic properties, device performance and stability of cesium-formamidinium metal-halide perovskites

M. Othman; Q. Jeangros; D. A. Jacobs; M. H. Futscher; S. Zeiske et al. 

Energy & Environmental Science. 2024-05-09. DOI : 10.1039/d4ee00901k.

Stress tolerance of lightweight glass-free PV modules for vehicle integration

U. B. Desai; K. Nicolet; S. Prabhudesai; G. Cattaneo; J. Robin et al. 

Epj Photovoltaics. 2024-04-01. Vol. 15, p. 10. DOI : 10.1051/epjpv/2024003.

Nanostructure and Optical Property Tailoring of Zinc Tin Nitride Thin Films through Phenomenological Decoupling: A Pathway to Enhanced Control

C. Hain; K. Wieczerzak; D. Casari; A. Sharma; A. Xomalis et al. 

Acs Applied Nano Materials. 2024-03-11. Vol. 7, num. 6, p. 6242–6252. DOI : 10.1021/acsanm.3c06178.

Characterization of a flexible a-Si:H detector for in vivo dosimetry in therapeutic x-ray beams

M. J. Large; A. Bashiri; Y. Dookie; J. McNamara; L. Antognini et al. 

Medical Physics. 2024-03-03. DOI : 10.1002/mp.17013.

The effect of partial shading on the reliability of photovoltaic modules in the built-environment

E. Ozkalay; F. Valoti; M. Caccivio; A. Virtuani; G. Friesen et al. 

Epj Photovoltaics. 2024-02-28. Vol. 15, p. 7. DOI : 10.1051/epjpv/2024001.

A Universal Perovskite/C60 Interface Modification via Atomic Layer Deposited Aluminum Oxide for Perovskite Solar Cells and Perovskite-Silicon Tandems

K. Artuk; D. Turkay; M. D. Mensi; J. A. Steele; D. A. Jacobs et al. 

Advanced Materials. 2024-02-19. DOI : 10.1002/adma.202311745.