Partial TU Delft solar cell most efficient

Partial TU Delft solar cell most efficient

 

 

Researchers from TU Delft, TU Eindhoven, TNO and semiconductor specialist Imec raised eyebrows at the WCPRC-8 world solar conference in Milan. United in the Dutch Solliance partnership, they presented a hybrid solar cell with a record efficiency of 30%.

 

The solar cell is composed of a stack, or tandem, of semi-transparent perovskite solar cells, that are especially sensitive to ultraviolet and visible light, resting on a silicon solar cell. The efficiency of the perovskite solar cell is 19.7% and the silicon (PV) cell adds another 10.4%. Together they good for a record efficiency of 30%. 

 

This is good news because a high power yield on a small surface area makes it attractive to integrate solar panels into building and construction elements, making more surfaces than only roofs and meadows suitable for generating solar energy. 

 

^{Researchers Yifeng Zhao (left, TU Delft), Mehrdad Najafi, Valerio Zardetto and Dong Zhang (all from TNO) present their ultra-efficient tandem cell. (Photo: Niels van Loon.}

 

At TU Delft, Professor of photovoltaic materials and devices Olinda Isabella of the Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science Faculty (EEMCS) leads the research.

 

 

• More information in the TU Delft press release