Chinese perovskite developer Renshine Solar said it achieved a world record 27.5% power conversion efficiency for a flexible all-perovskite solar cell, in collaboration with Nanjing University and the University of Victoria in Canada.
The result was enabled by a “dynamic crystallization control” technique, in which perovskite films are rapidly cooled under a gas stream while additives pass through ion-transport channels, allowing defect healing and stable crystallization on flexible substrates. The approach avoided cracks and voids while ensuring mechanical resilience.
The company said the process was transferred from laboratory-scale coating to industrial roll-to-roll slit-coating within a month, producing uniform wide-bandgap films on 30 cm × 40 cm flexible substrates. Devices retained over 97% of their efficiency after 10,000 bending cycles at a 10 mm radius and showed stability under thermal cycling, maximum-power-point tracking, and ultraviolet exposure.
Nanjing University’s Prof. Li Yongxi said the milestone had “practical value” because the method aligned with deployment goals. Based on the approach, the team also built a 20.26 cm² flexible panel with 23.0% certified efficiency, detailed in a recent Nature Photonics paper.
Founded in 2021 by Nanjing University’s Prof. Tan Hairen, Renshine has been behind more than 11 world-record perovskite cell efficiencies. Its rigid cells reached 31.27% efficiency this year. The company operates a 150 MW production line launched in 2023 and is investing CNY 1.25 billion ($170 million) in a gigawatt-scale facility expected in 2026.
“Innovation must bridge academia, research, and industry—the flexible perovskite breakthrough is exactly that collaborative outcome,” said Prof. Tan.
The company said applications for lightweight, bendable, and low-cost modules range from building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) to aerospace and mobile electronics, marking a step toward commercialization of flexible perovskite technology.
