Sunday, October 10, 2021

Tandem solar cells edge towards 30% efficiency

Nice try! Modern coal fired power plants can achieve up to 45% efficiency with minimal emissions!

What if the sun does not shine? Solar panels need to be frequently cleaned to maintain high efficiency? How environmentally friendly is the production waste management of solar panels? How extensive is the land use of solar power farms? Do we want to cover up the deserts of the world?

Tandem solar cells edge towards 30% efficiency – Physics World Late in 2020, scientists in Germany and Lithuania announced a new milestone in so-called “tandem” solar cells – that is, cells made from two different types of photovoltaic material. Writing in Science, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin/Kaunas University team reported that its perovskite/silicon tandem cell had a photovoltaic conversion efficiency (PCE) of 29.15%, beating out the previous maximum of 26.2% for a tandem cell. The researchers also suggested that their device’s record-breaking efficiency was only the beginning, with plenty of room for tandem cells to improve before running up against theoretical and practical limits.

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