Solar cell achieves 32.5% efficiency

The current world record of tandem solar cells consisting of a silicon bottom cell and a perovskite top cell has once again been broken at HZB.

The new tandem solar cell converts 32.5% of the incident solar radiation into electrical energy.

The certifying institute European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) in Italy measured the tandem cell and officially confirmed this value which is also included in the NREL chart of solar cell technologies, maintained by the National Renewable Energy Lab, U.S.

Fast progress

Ongoing efficiency development by various research institutes and companies over the last years and especially the last month have been quite exciting for the field:  More recently, Switzerland, first reported a certified tandem cell above the 30% barrier at 31.3%, which is a remarkable efficiency.

HZB’s Prof. Bernd Rech, says, “At 32.5%, the solar cell efficiency of the HZB tandems is now in ranges previously only achieved by expensive III/V semiconductors.

The NREL graph clearly shows how spectacular the last two increases from EPFL and HZB are.”