Reports suggest that LONGi Green Energy Technology managed to reach a conversion efficiency of 33.9% for its silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells.
The result, currently the highest efficiency record in the world for a perovskite/silicon tandem cell, has reportedly been confirmed by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
Researchers at Empa, National University of Singapore (NUS) and Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy HI ERN have reported novel electrical and optical enhancement approaches to maximize the performance of perovskite front cells.
The team introduced new electrical and optical techniques, using methyldiammonium diiodide and adjusting the optical interference spectrum. This resulted in a record efficiency of 20.2% (21.8% by J-V scan) for a semi-transparent perovskite cell and 81.5% average near-infrared transmittance.
Cosmos Innovation, a company that relies on its AI platform called Mobius for "revolutionizing the approach to solar and semiconductor process development", has announced raising $19.7 million in total funding. The funding will support the company's different approach to developing perovskite silicon tandem solar cell technology.
The funding coincides with Cosmos Innovation's unveiling of Mobius, its pioneering AI recipe optimization platform. Mobius has reportedly been demonstrated across various sectors, including solar, silicon carbide, advanced data center chips and advanced packaging. This platform fuels Cosmos Innovation's ambitious endeavor: construction of the world's first self-learning fab in the solar and semiconductor space.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Arizona State University and have designed a large-area perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell that achieved a steady-state power conversion efficiency of 25.1% for tandem devices with a large aperture area of 24 cm2.
The team set out to overcome shunting, which is a common issue when scaling up perovskite solar technologies from small-area cells to large-area devices. “Shunts” in PV cells create alternate pathways for a solar-generated charge, leading to power losses. Reduced shunt resistance is associated with multiple forms of module degradation and failure, including hotspots and potential-induced degradation.
A group of scientists from Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE), with support from Oxford PV Germany, have examined shingling as an interconnection method for perovskite-silicon tandem (PVST) cells.
Full-format perovskite-silicon tandem shingle modules produced at Fraunhofer ISE in collaboration with Oxford PV. Image from Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells.
The scientists explained that the combination of PVST cells with shingling allows boosting the module efficiency even further due to the increase of the photoactive area through the absence of cell gaps. They went on to say that shingling suits the temperature limitations of the PVST cells since the main factor for the choice of the processing temperature is the curing conditions of the electrically conductive adhesive.
Oxford PV has announced that its perovskite-on-silicon tandem solar cells will be deployed for the first time on the race car of the Top Dutch Solar Racing team for the upcoming Bridgestone World Solar Challenge.
Taking place between the 22nd and 29th of October 2023, the competition brings some of the world’s greatest scientific and engineering talent to Australia to travel 3,000 kilometers in a vehicle powered only by the energy of the sun. University-affiliated teams push the limits of technological innovation and travel the outback in solar-powered vehicles that they have designed, engineered and ultimately built themselves.
Researchers from Southeast University and the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh have designed and simulated an all-inorganic lead-free tandem photovoltaic cell based on copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS) thin-film technology and perovskite.
The proposed top cell (a) and bottom cell (b), image from Heliyon
The novel device architecture is said to have the potential to reach a power conversion efficiency of 38.39%. “The main objective of this work is to find an efficient combination of non-toxic solar cells with high efficiency so that it saves time and effort before going for fabrication,” the scientists said in their work, noting that the perovskite and materials used for the cell are lead-free.
Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) and Oxford PV Germany have developed low temperature manufacturing processes for perovskite silicon tandem cells and heterojunction solar cells. The novel techniques are reportedly able to reduce silver consumption and avoid lead-containing soldering materials.
The scientists developed two different processes: front-side metallization at very low temperatures for full-size perovskite silicon tandem solar cells; and the interconnection to high-efficiency full-format demonstrator modules with an output power of more than 400 W.
A research team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has reported a perovskite/perovskite/silicon triple-junction solar cell with an open circuit voltage of >2.8 V, which is said to be the record value reported for this structure so far. The Fraunhofer team showed that perovskite-perovskite-silicon subcells can hold considerable promise and have an even greater efficiency potential than double-junction tandem cells.
The triple-junction solar cell was developed as part of the Triumph research project funded by the European Commission and the RIESEN research project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. This achievement confirms that the cell has excellent material properties for generating electricity, leading the scientists to deduce that it has an efficient solar cell architecture.
Researchers from Princeton University and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have connected silicon solar cells with perovskite ones in a tandem solar cell to not only boost overall efficiency, but also to strengthen stability. The results show that the connection protects the frail perovskite solar cell from voltage-induced breakdown while attaining greater efficiencies than either cell can achieve on its own.
The team demonstrated that the tested perovskite/silicon tandem devices are considerably more resilient against reverse bias compared with perovskite single-junction devices. The origin of such improved stability stems from the low reverse-bias diode current of the silicon subcell. This translates to dropping most of the voltage over the silicon subcell, where such a favorable voltage distribution protects the perovskite subcell from reverse-bias-induced degradation.
