A team of Enel Green Power (EGP) and its subsidiary 3Sun along with the National Solar Energy Institute (INES), part of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), have achieved 26.5% power conversion efficiency for a perovskite-silicon tandem cell on 9 cm² with shading correction.
This efficiency beats their previous achievements of 24.9% reported in April 2022, followed by 25.8% with the same configuration and a PIN architecture on 9 cm² with shading correction.
The device has an active area of 9 cm² with a Voc of above 1,880 mV. While the trio do not share any more information about the improvements that led to this efficiency level, they said, "The race towards higher efficiency (>30%) Si/PK tandem cells with PIN architecture, on large surfaces and on their manufacturing processes, is going on…".
Current certified world record for highest tandem cell efficiency with 32.5% is held by Germany's Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) on 1 cm² (see HZB Reports 32.5% Efficiency For Tandem Solar Cells).
EGP's 3Sun operates a 200 MW heterojunction module production fab in Italy's Catania that's being expanded to an annual capacity of 3 GW. It is also interested in developing a tandem structure to exceed 30% efficiency using bifacial panels and the research work with INES-CEA is part of the same plan (see Enel Green Power Unveils Heterojunction Solar Module).
Recently, the French institute unveiled a demonstrator HJT module with 566W output and 22.9% cell efficiency claiming a significantly lower carbon footprint than average China-made panels (see New European HJT Solar Module With Low Carbon Footprint).