The records keep falling for tandem solar cell efficiency records: researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia report achievement of a 33.2% power conversion efficiency for a perovskite/silicon device.

The improvement attained under one-Sun illumination was certified by the European Solar Test Installation as the highest efficiency of any kind of two-junction solar cell.

This surpasses the efficiency record of 30.93% achieved in 2022 by researchers from the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne for a 1 cm² tandem solar cell. This marked the first time the 30% efficiency goal was attained.

The device developed at KAUST layers perovskite top cells on industrially compatible, two-sided, textured silicon bottom cells. The perovskite excels at absorbing blue light while the bottom silicon layer shines at red light absorption, maximizing the efficient capture and conversion of solar radiation.

Research efforts will next focus on scaling the cells to industrial sizes of over 240 cm² (37 sq in).