UK-INDIA: Creating more efficient solar energy

The supply of clean, sustainable, and affordable energy is a key issue in India and across the world. There is a need for a low upfront cost, high-efficiency source of energy production to improve the quality of life in villages in India.

The Newton-Bhabha APEX-II programme is a flagship project in solar energy between India and the UK, building on the achievements of an earlier programme. The project focused on addressing the challenges of perovskite solar cells (PSC) which have proved successful in terms of efficiency and costs but have shown materials and device instability from ambient humidity and oxygen in the air.

The project has advanced the technology and led to patents. Cheaper and low upfront cost processing has attracted interest from manufacturing companies in India and abroad, which may wish to adopt PSC technology for manufacturing once it gains stability against ambient factors.

In addition, the project has built up strong partnerships between academic groups from the two countries, marked by several offshoot projects, high-quality, high-impact joint publications, patents and more than 50 exchange visits of early career researchers.

Advancing the Efficiency and the Production Potential of Excitonic Solar Cells (APEX)-II

Project leads: Professor Hari Upadhyay, Brunel University London and Professor Viresh Dutta, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Delivery partners: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Department for Science and Technology, India