The dynamic duo of silicon and perovskite continues to run amok in the solar industry. Researchers at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have developed a new silicon/perovskite he tandem solar cell with record-breaking efficiency.
Most commercial solar cells have traditionally been made with silicon as the active ingredient. This has led to the widespread use of this technique. Unfortunately, these solar cells are starting to hit the physical limits of silicon efficiency, so there isn’t much room for improvement unless the recipe is radically changed.
Enter perovskite. This crystalline material will rival silicon as it rapidly climbs the ranks from his less than 4% efficiency in 2009 to more than 25% by 2021, but we’re not done yet. Working the two materials together yields even better results, with recent efficiencies well over 30%.
And now a new record has been set. An engineer at the KAUST Solar Center has developed his silicon/perovskite tandem solar cell with an efficiency of 33.2% under normal he-sun illumination. This is the highest efficiency among his two-junction solar cells of any kind. This record has been independently certified by the European Solar Test Installation and added to the Best Research-cell Efficiency Chart maintained by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
This is a 0.7% increase over the 32.5% efficiency cell developed by the team at previous record holder Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin and announced last December. These broken records are on the rise these days. Just two years ago, we were unable to break the 30% efficiency barrier.
The KAUST team did not elaborate on what improvements were made to the solar cells to achieve the new record. However, this kind of incremental progress usually comes from small adjustments to materials, manufacturing methods, construction, and design.
This work will continue as the researchers focus on scaling the cell to industrial sizes beyond 240 cm.2 (37 square inches).
Source: KAUST
