Scientists have developed a solar panel from ordinary silicon with a record efficiency

A group of German scientists from the Institute of Solar Energy Systems. Fraunhofer has successfully developed a solar cell from the most common and widely used monocrystalline silicon with a record efficiency of 26%.

The technology proposed by scientists is much simpler than the previously proposed Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) with contacts on the back side of the cells and may well "run into" the theoretical limit of the transformation of solar energy into electricity for silicon.

Solar panels and the problem of modern technologies

Currently, about 90% of all used solar panels are produced from silicon. And to increase the efficiency for this type of panel without significantly complicating the production process and increasing the final cost of the product is just a dream come true.

For these purposes, the IBC technology was developed, according to which both conductive contacts were located on the back side of the cell. As a result, there is no shading of the panel and, thus, the entire volume of the cell is used better for power generation.

And all would be nothing. After all, IBC really allowed it to come close to 26%, but at the same time, the production of panels for such technology turned out to be significantly more expensive, and solar cells produced using this technology turned out to be no one unnecessary.

German scientists managed to achieve a significant increase in efficiency in another way. In the future, it will be possible to achieve an efficiency of 27% and very little remains to the theoretical limit of silicon of 29.4%.

New approach in production and record efficiency

Scientists managed to achieve such significant success thanks to the following improvements:

The new cell was based on the TOPCon contact (tunnel oxide passivated contact). The new panel differs from the currently implemented panels in that this new contact is not located on top, but lies along the entire back side of the cell.

This move made it possible to dop with boron not the entire front surface, but only with the second, usual remaining contact.

This not only simplified, but also greatly reduced the cost of production. The new cell was named TOPConRE. The cell produced in this way showed not only high efficiency, but also proved to be capable of delivering more voltage. At the same time, the operation of the new element is also accompanied by lower losses.

According to the developers, the solar panel created in this way meets all modern industrial standards and is already ready for mass production and widespread use.

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