Single-junction silicon solar cells may have hitherto been dominating photovoltaics, but are now inching their efficiency limits. EU-funded scientists showed that multi-junction, compound-semiconductor solar cells from the III-V family are capable of hitting record efficiency numbers.
Multi-junction photovoltaic cells – also called tandem cells – are one of the most widely explored paths to higher efficiency solar cells. Originally developed for aerospace applications, III-V multi-junction cells use three different materials in a single cell, thereby extracting much more energy from sunlight. As a result, they are capable of gaudy conversion efficiency numbers. The inverted metamorphic multi-junction technology is a further breakthrough in performance and cost reduction of these cells.
Further details: New heir to silicon for high-efficiency solar cells