Saudi university achieves 33.2% performance for perovskite/si tandem

• Scientists at Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah University of Science and also Technology (KAUST) have actually established a perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell with the world's highest possible power conversion effectiveness (PCE) of 33.2%, according to an announcement on Monday.

The tandem solar cell was licensed by the European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) and also currently heads the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) Best Research-cell Efficiency Chart. It goes beyond the previous efficiency record for this type of cells of 32.5%, set by Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB).

Tandem solar cells with silicon and perovskite elements are viewed as an appealing, high-performing choice to traditional crystalline solar cells. The cell produced by the KAUST Solar Centre combines perovskite leading cells on industrially compatible, two-sided textured silicon base cells. This boosts the effectiveness as the perovskite top layer absorbs blue light best, while the silicon structure does so with red light, the university describes.

The group, led by Stefaan De Wolf, acting associate supervisor of the KAUST Solar Centre, is presently checking out scalable methods to produce industrial-scale perovskite/silicon tandem cells and also techniques to enable the tandem devices to pass the critical commercial security procedures.