China uses its "miracle material" to achieve record-breaking solar panel energy levels, further solidifying its position as a dominant source of renewable energy.
The latest developments are a success for solar technology firm LONGi as it has set a new world record for silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells by reaching 33.9% efficiency. This is an achievement that the United States National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) certified.
China's Advancement in Solar Panel Energy
As the world is looking to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, renewable energy research has seen a significant push. Scientists around the world have been working tirelessly to improve the efficiency of solar panels so that they can provide more energy from the same area where they are installed.
The achievement also comes as the standard single-junction solar cells found in all commercial installations have a theoretical limit of 33.7%. This is also something that is referred to as the Shockley-Quieser (S-Q) limit.
In an effort to overcome that limit, researchers worked using different materials that can be paired with silicon to improve efficiency and success has been achieved with perovskites, as per Interesting Engineer.
A tandem solar cell is made up of various materials, with each one responding to a separate section of the solar spectrum. This would help in improving the overall efficiency of the solar cell. With the use of perovskites which is a naturally occurring mineral of calcium, silicon-based solar cells now have a theoretical efficiency of 43%.
This makes these materials the likely candidate for upgrading conventional solar cells that currently exist. This is also the reason why perovskites are also known as "miracle material." researchers at the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia set a global record earlier this year after reaching an efficiency of 33.2% with their tandem solar cell.
With a new record of 33.9% efficiency, the effort from the Chinese company could be marginally better but demonstrates much scope for improving the efficiencies of tandem solar cells. LONGi's latest achievement is also seen as significant because its tandem solar cells only achieved 26.81% efficiency in November last year.
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Miracle Material
In a statement, the Chinese company said that the achievement provides meaningful empirical data to demonstrate the advantage of crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells over crystalline silicon single junction solar cells, according to the Independent. This is particularly true when it comes to efficiency.
LONGi added that the emergence of crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem technology has opened up a new track for the development of next-generation high-efficiency solar cell technology. It noted that the same area with the same technology can generate more electricity.
The situation comes as China is the largest producer of solar technology as well as the largest user of that technology. A new report suggests that the Asian nation could continue to dominate the industry over the next three years.
The report forecasts that as much as 80% of the global production capacity in polysilicon, solar wafers, cells, and modules will be concentrated in China, said Oil Price.
