Taiwan has developed next-generation solar cell components that would boost solar-cell efficiency by more than 31 percent, Academia Sinica said yesterday.
Boosting solar-cell efficiency is key in developing solar energy in the nation, given the limited space available to install solar panels, the institute said in a statement.
Currently, the highest light-to-electricity conversion efficiency achieved by silicon solar cells is about 22 to 24 percent, the institute said, adding that it is nearly impossible to increase efficiency by 30 percent with silicon solar cells alone.
Photo courtesy of Academia Sinica
However, perovskite films can be combined with silicon solar cells to form stacked perovskite/silicon solar cells to improve light-to-electricity conversion efficiency, it said.
The institute formed a research group to develop perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells after Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) finalized the decision, with its own researchers being joined by those from National Cheng Kung University, National Tsing Hua University and Ming Chi University of Technology, it said.
The research team succeeded in creating perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells in two years, boosting the light-electricity conversion efficiency to more than 31 percent, Liao said.
Photo courtesy fo the Academia Sinica via CNA
“The efficiency is more than 30 percent higher than solar cell products currently on the market. Compared with the solar power generation devices deployed in the early years, the efficiency has increased by nearly 50 percent. Power generation can be increased without increasing the properties required to develop solar energy,” he said.
Silicon solar cell modules can only absorb part of the wavelength of sunlight, resulting in limited conversion efficiency. Tandem solar cells use the upper layer of perovskite to absorb photons that cannot be absorbed by silicon crystal, and the remaining photons are absorbed by the lower layer of silicon crystal, thereby increasing the conversion efficiency, the institute said.
The research team has broken through several key connection layer technologies, successfully laminated perovskite films on silicon cells and reduced interface losses, thus completing the production of small-area two-terminal cell components. The light-electricity conversion efficiency has reached 31.5 percent, the institute said.
There is sufficient supply of materials to produce perovskite/silicon solar cells, which can be manufactured at lower costs, run efficiently and are recyclable, the team said.
“The result shows that Taiwan has the ability to produce perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells, which also have a high potential to be commercialized,” the team said.
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
Taiwan is hosting the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) for the first time, welcoming more than 400 young linguists from 43 nations to National Taiwan University (NTU). Deputy Minister of Education Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) said at the opening ceremony yesterday that language passes down knowledge and culture, and influences the way humankind thinks and understands the world. Taiwan is a multicultural and multilingual nation, with Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, 16 indigenous languages and Taiwan Sign Language all used, Chu said. In addition, Taiwan promotes multilingual education, emphasizes the cultural significance of languages and supports the international mother language movement, he said. Taiwan has long participated
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
RSS