4) Perovskites

Solar energy is already well under way. It’s no longer surprising to see solar panels on buildings and factories. As it stands the major problem is how expensive they are to produce. A solar panel on a family home will take around 10 years to create enough electricity to pay for itself.

Worry ye not, perovskites, discovered a century ago, are making large leaps into the fray. So what are they? I’ll let Wikipedia do the leg work here:

…a calcium titanium oxide mineral composed of calcium titanate, with the chemical formula CaTiO3.

That was the original perovskite, now the name is applied to anything with a similar structure and scientists are busy tweaking the design to optimise solar conversion.

Currently perovskite isn’t quite as efficient as standard silicon panels, but they are constantly being improved and they are much easier and cheaper to produce. Silicon is expensive and a right diva to deal with whereas perovskite is burly and chilled. No airtight, contaminant free labs are necessary. Once it can be created in bulk we’ll all be wearing hats adorned with solar panels to charge our phones in our pockets.