Record efficiency in CIGS solar jail cell has been independently verified , show there is still life in the once - popular technology that has been shaded in late years .

Today , the immense majority of photovoltaic systems are silicon - ground . However , silicon cadre are draw close their maximal efficiency , and take relatively in high spirits temperatures to produce , creating a floor in cost and implant energy that is toilsome to get below . The much fresh perovskite technologyis improvingat anastonishing rate , but incertitude remain about perovskite cell ’ longevity .

accordingly , some researchers are not bad to keep options undecided for an alternative advance . Moreover , stacking different type of solar cells on each other leads to efficiencies none could accomplish on their own . Both of these keep CIGS relevant as a likely part of fossil fuel ’ replacement , despite its decline in grocery share since the other 2000s .

The letters in CIGS standstill for copper , indium , Ga , and selenide , a combination of which are cake on an average bed sheet of windowpane glass , along with silver and Na . A team at Uppsala University created one such jail cell that outperformed predecessor using several innovations , let in adjusting gallium immersion in different parts of the mobile phone .

This composition voice expensive – some of those metals are quite pricey . The fact they necessitate to be regale with rubidium fluoride , a molybdenum bed placed behind them , and a pellucid layer set in front , does n’t ameliorate the situation .

However , these types of cells are not call “ thin film ” for nothing . The sheet are so hunky-dory that the quantities of metallic element required should not be prohibitory liken to silicon .

If CIGS is to be worth using , however , it needs efficiency at least penny-pinching to competing technologies . For decades , solar locomotive engineer were more concerned about get production costs down than improving efficiency , but solar cells are now so chintzy that efficiency gains have been prioritize in recent years .

Standard commercial panel efficiencies have more than doubled over a decade , permit far more Energy Department to be generated from rooftop with limited space , as well as easing concerns that utilitysolarwill compete with agriculture for land .

Uppsala University researchers contain the record for CIGS efficiency in the 1990s , but that exploit had been outgo for 10 . late , however , they bring on a cell that their own test suggested was closing in on 24 percent efficiency . Independent examination by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems has now produced a value of 23.54 percent .

“ The measuring that we have made ourselves for this solar cell and other solar cells bring forth recently are within the security deposit of erroneousness for the independent measurement , ” Uppsala University ’s Professor Marika Edoff said in astatement .

This reclaim the CIGS crown , beating the previous platter set by Solar Frontier of Japan by 0.29 percent , although still behindsilicon ’s 27.6 percent and perovskite ’s 26.1 .

However , CIGS does n’t involve to beat Si ’s efficiency to matter . Different cell technology knead best at capturing different parts of the spectrum of sun that reaches Earth . Tandem cellsare topped by a stratum that is salutary at catch bluing to ultraviolet , and comparatively gauze-like to longer wavelengths , with another bed more suitable to capture red visible light below . These can be more efficient than any single - layer cellphone – with a disc currently standing at 33.9 percent .

“ Our study demonstrates that CIGS thin - film engineering is a private-enterprise alternative as a stand - alone solar cell . The technology also has attribute that can function in other contexts , such as the bottom cell of a tandem solar cellphone , ” tell Edoff . CIGS ’s gamy reliability also gives it an vantage over some other prospect .

of necessity , tandem cells are more expensive per building block area , and currently per unit of energy as well . Consequently , they are only used in cases where efficiency is much more important than cost , such as powering satellites . However , if advance continue across multiple engineering , tandem bicycle , or even ternary or quadruple cellular phone , could become much more widespread .

The study is published inNature Energy .