Sharp claims 33.66% efficiency for silicon tandem solar cell

The Japanese electronic manufacturer said this is the world’s highest efficiency for a stacked solar cell that combines a tandem double-junction solar cell and a silicon solar cell.

November 3, 2023 Emiliano Bellini

Image: Sharp

From pv magazine Global

Japanese electronics manufacturer Sharp announced it achieved a power conversion efficiency of 33.66% for a silicon tandem solar cell.

The company claimed in a press release that this is the world’s highest efficiency for a stacked solar cell that combines a tandem double-junction solar cell and a silicon solar cell. The result is said to break the world record of 32.65% that Sharp achieved under a project supported by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) in 2022.

“The prototype solar cell module has achieved high efficiency by efficiently converting light of various wavelengths into energy by a new structure which has compound two-junction solar cells on the top layer and silicon solar cells on the bottom layer,” the manufacturer said.

“Additionally, the thickness of the tandem double-junction solar cells can be reduced to less than one-third that of conventional triple-junction solar cells, reducing material costs.”

The cell has a double-step junction of indium/gallium/phosphorous and gallium arsenide as the top layer and silicon as the bottom layer.

Schematic of the solar cell
*Image: Sharp*

* The article has been amended to reflect that the solar cell is not a perovskite-silicon tandem device but a silicon tandem solar cell. We apologize for this mistake.

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