Solar Frontier has achieved a conversion efficiency of 23.35% on a 1cm² CIS solar PV cell, the highest verified figure for a cell of this type.
The thin-film solar company, launched and headquartered in Japan as a subsidiary of oil company Shell in the 1970s, said it developed the record-breaking cell through joint research with Japan’s national New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO).
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The result was verified by the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) back in November, with Solar Frontier making the announcement this month.
Solar Frontier had also held the previous record for efficiency with its cadmium-free proprietary CIS (copper, indium selenide) thin-film, registering 22.9% efficiency in late 2017.
Solar Frontier said research and development into new technologies and processes, including CIS absorber engineering and “enhanced surface treatment of the absorber” contributed towards the 0.4% jump in efficiency.