A team at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia claims to have achieved a 12.1 percent energy conversion efficiency rating for a 16 cm2 (2.5 sq in) perovskite solar cell, which is at least 10 times the size of current certified high-efficiency perovskite cells.

In the last year or so, we've seen other smaller perovskite cells and some hybrid combinations hit efficiency levels above 20 percent. The UNSW team also achieved 18 percent efficiency for a 1.2 cm2 (0.2 sq in) single perovskite cell, and 11.5 percent for a 16 cm2 (2.5 sq in) four-cell perovskite mini-module.

"Perovskites came out of nowhere in 2009, with an efficiency rating of 3.8 percent, and have since grown in leaps and bounds," said Anita Ho-Baillie, a Senior Research Fellow at the UNSW's Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics. "I think we can get to 24 percent within a year or so."