Crystalline silicon solar cells dominate the global photovoltaic market with module efficiencies of around 20-22%. However, the field of solar energy is wanting for innovative materials and approaches that yield even higher efficiencies in support of global renewable energy goals.
Tandem solar cells combining silicon and perovskite sub-cells are widely regarded as a very promising, high-performing and viable alternative to conventional crystalline solar cells, and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is leading the charge. Researchers in the KAUST Photovoltaics Laboratory (KPV-Lab) of the KAUST Solar Center have produced a perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 33.2%—the highest tandem device efficiency in the world to date, surpassing that of Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin’s (HZB) record at 32.5% PCE.
