Oxford PV sets another world record for commercial-sized solar cell efficiency
Oxford PV, a spin-out from the University of Oxford, has set a world record - its second in as many years, for the efficiency of a commercial-sized solar cell.
The cell was produced at the company's integrated production line in Brandenburg an der Havel in Germany and converted 28.6% of the sun’s energy into electricity as independently certified by Fraunhofer ISE.
This is substantially higher than mainstream silicon-only solar cells, which average between 22% and 24%, the company said.
Chris Case, chief technology officer at Oxford PV, said: "Our latest efficiency achievement of 28.6% is more than 1.5% above our record set last year and exceeds our own roadmap plan of 1% annual increases.
"These record-setting solar cells are made on the same production line as our 27% efficient commercial solar cells, which already meet strict performance and reliability targets."
The record-breaking cell was made by depositing a thin film of the material perovskite onto a conventional silicon solar cell.
Case added: "Solar panels integrated with Oxford PV’s solar cells produce more electricity from the same area, making them highly attractive for residential and commercial rooftops. For utility-scale solar farms, our technology will also help them reduce land usage and maintain biodiversity."
Oxford PV said the factory in Germany had begun initial production of the company’s tandem solar cells for integration by solar module manufacturing partners and is now ramping up to higher volumes.
David Ward, CEO at Oxford PV, added: "While we continue to innovate on our perovskite-on-silicon technology on small research-sized solar cells, much of our focus has been on improving our commercial-sized cells for the market, ramping up production, and working with our solar module partners to prepare them for assembly into solar panels.
"Our team has made excellent progress during 2023 and our innovative solar cells are close to being in the hands of our module-manufacturing customers."
Oxford PV’s perovskite-on-silicon solar cell technology combines a thin layer of perovskite, which is a synthetic solar conversion material, with silicon - the mainstream solar cell technology to create a more powerful cell, which generates at least 20% more electricity from sunlight than with silicon-only cell technology.
Oxford PV has been developing the technology based on research-sized cells at its R&D centre in Oxford, while its production facility near Berlin, Germany, is focusing on scaling up and continuously improving the manufacturing of commercial-sized devices.
The company has recently registered a US subsidiary.
READ MORE: Oxford solar tech business named a 202 Global Cleantech 100 company
