solar cell

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

Brazilian scientists have created a new hybrid converter topology based on differential power processing (DPP) that can help reduce power losses in PV systems under permanent mismatch conditions, as well as temporary ones caused by partial shading, dirt and snow. The converter consists of a hybrid topology that combines the PV-to-PV and PV-to-Bus architectures and reportedly solve some of the issues presented by both configurations.

Scientists in China have fabricated an organic solar cell based on an indium tin oxide hole transport layer modified with an interfacial layer made of recycled indium chloride (InCl3).

In 2022, off-grid solar kit sales reached a record-breaking 9.5 million units. This is almost 1 million more than the 8.5 million units sold in 2019.

Dutch scientists have developed a perovskite-PERC tandem solar cell based on a new type of tunnel recombination junction that reportedly offers an improved device efficiency distribution. The cell uses a nickel(II) oxide layer that is intended to reduce electrical shunts in the perovskite top cell.

Indian manufacturer Navitas Solar has collaborated with US-based Sustainable Equity and Colby Solar to set up a module factory with a manufacturing capacity of 1.2 GW per annum.

Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy (ISE) has advanced vehicle-integrated PV (VIPV) technology by installing solar cells directly onto a standard sheet-metal car hood. The researchers placed a 115 W prototype array on the hood of a Volkswagen with a specialized lamination process.

Scientists in Australia claim to have achieved the highest efficiency ever reported to date for a perovskite solar cell built on a steel substrate. They utilized an indium tin oxide (ITO) interlayer between the steel substrate and the cell in order to avoid iron diffusion from the substrate into the PV device.

A spokesperson from the Japanese plastics maker told pv magazine that production is currently being carried out at a small facility in the laboratory, and that the location of a full-scale production facility is currently under consideration.

A UK research team has developed a photovoltaic leaf concept that can produce electricity, water and thermal energy in a single device. The system, inspired by a leaf, is based on a biomimetic transpiration (BT) layer that cools down the embedded PV unit and utilizes excess heat from the cell to produce water and heat energy.