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New “tandem” solar cell breaks world
record
It converts 33.7% of the solar energy that hits it into electricity.
By
Kristin Houser
June 01, 2023
Researchers in Saudi Arabia have just broken a
record they themselves set just two months ago: a tandem solar cell
with an unprecedented 33.7% efficiency.
The challenge: Photovoltaic solar cells absorb light and convert it
into electricity. You’ll find dozens of them in the average solar
panel, and chances are they’ll be made from silicon, because it lasts
a long time and is relatively cheap.
Silicon solar cells aren’t terribly efficient, though — most
commercial silicon cells convert just 18-22% of the solar energy that
hits them into electricity. That means you need more cells and more
panels, increasing the cost and upkeep of the system.
“We hope that our new achievement will
contribute to accelerating the green energy transition.”
ERKAN AYDIN
The idea: To improve the efficiency of solar cells, some
researchers are pairing the silicon in them with another material. In
December 2022, for example, a team from Germany unveiled a solar
cell consisting of the standard silicon with a layer of the
mineral perovskite on top of it.
While the silicon layer absorbed and converted mostly infrared light
into electricity, the perovskite layer did the same for visible light.
As a result, the “tandem” solar cell was able to achieve a
then-record-breaking efficiency of 32.5%.
What’s new? On May 30, Erkan Aydin, a research scientist at
the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in
Saudi Arabia, announced the
creation of a tandem solar cell that achieved 33.7% efficiency.
This breaks the current world record of 33.2%, which the same KAUST
researchers set
in April 2023.
“In two months’ time, we’ve set a new world record for perovskite/silicon
tandem solar cells — again!” wrote Aydin in a LinkedIn post. “We hope
that our new achievement will contribute to accelerating the green
energy transition.”
![](images/images_06_02_2023/pic4.jpg)
Credit: Erkan Aydin / LinkedIn
Black box: KAUST’s tandem solar cell has
been certified by the European Solar Test Installation, a research lab
that verifies the performance of solar tech for the European Union, so
we know its efficiency claims are valid.
However, the researchers have revealed nothing on how they were able
to squeeze that extra bit of electricity out of the cells.
When they broke the record in April, they noted that the silicon part
of the cell was textured — that has helped improve efficiency in other
tandem solar cells, so they may have taken the same approach with the
new cell, but we don’t yet know for sure if that’s the case.
Looking ahead: Creating solar cells that can break efficiency
records in the lab is one thing — achieving those same efficiencies
with solar cells that could make a difference in the real world is
another.
The next steps for the KAUST team will likely involve developing
larger versions of their tandem solar cell. The current cell is just
larger than one square centimeter, but the cells used in standard
solar panels are usually around 240 cm2.
KAUST now needs to prove its tandem solar cell
can make a difference in the real world.
Approximately 1,200 of
those standard silicon solar cells are needed to produce enough
electricity for the average home, so, even though KAUST’s cell is more
efficient than any other perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell, we’d
still need a
lot of them to make any sort of dent in the world’s energy
needs.
That means KAUST not only needs to be able to make their cells bigger,
they need to be able to manufacture them at scale and at a competitive
price.
Buyers also expect their solar panels to last at least 20 years, but perovskite-based
cells tend to degrade more quickly than silicon ones — ensuring
that its tandem solar cell can withstand environmental conditions for
years will be another important goal for the KAUST team.
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