Canadian Solar claims 23.81% efficiency for n-type poly module

Canadian Solar has reported a 23.81% conversion efficiency for a n-type multicrystalline P5 solar cell.

The Chinese-Canadian PV module manufacturer said the new record has been confirmed by Germany’s Institut für Solarenergieforschung GmbH. It follows the company's previous record of 22.8%, set in September 2019.

“This is the third time within a span of nine months that the company has set a multicrystalline solar cell conversion efficiency world record,” the company said, without revealing how it increased the efficiency of the cell.

The cell, which measures in at 157mm x 157mm (246.44cm²), is based on p-type P5 silicon wafer and PASCon (passivated contact) technology. In September, Canadian Solar said that the improvement of the cell’s performance was achieved with metal-catalyzed chemical etching, the “black silicon” process, selective emitter technology, a multilayer anti-reflective coating, advanced surface passivation, and optimized grid design and metallization.

Solar cells of this kind are developed with seeded cast silicon, which is also known as cast-mono or quasi-mono crystalline silicon. Through this process, the manufacturer can produce mono-like wafer materials using a modified multicrystalline furnace to avoid costly investments in ingot pulling machinery.

Cast-mono wafers are also less susceptible to recombination by boron-oxygen defects. In addition, they offer the advantage of lower light-induced degradation.

The headline and copy of this article were amended on 13/05/20 to reflect the cell is question was a n-type, rather than p-type device, as was previously stated.