Solar Cells

A more than 15% increase in silver prices over the past week is adding cost pressure to the solar supply chain, as silver paste costs currently represent around 30% of total PV module costs.

In all ages, humankind decided to spend considerable amounts of the available productivity on special monumental projects. Managing climate change and rebalancing within the planetary boundaries is such an activity. The enormous energetic productivity of solar PV may evolve as the central pillar to create a sustainable civilization.

A Chinese-Swedish research team has boosted the performance of tin-lead perovskite solar cells by modifying additives and post-treatment processes. The device also demonstrated improved stability, retaining 60% of its initial efficiency after 550 hours at 85 °C under maximum power point conditions.

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.

With silver prices rising, more large solar manufacturers are expected to switch to copper for cell metallization. Radovan Kopecek of ISC Konstanz tells pv magazine that he expects the entire industry to follow. Ning Song of the University of New South Wales says a small efficiency tradeoff may be acceptable if the cost savings are significant and do not introduce new reliability risks.

The twelfth edition of the International Renewable Energy Agency’s Renewable Energy and Jobs report, in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), provides the latest data and estimates of renewable energy employment globally. It finds global renewable energy jobs reached 16.6 million in 2024, but growth slowed. The solar photovoltaic sector is by far the largest employer in the renewable energy industry, accounting for over 7.2 million jobs worldwide. The report calls for stronger public action to build domestic supply chains and ensure a more inclusive workforce.

Scientists from French research institute CEA-Liten have identified hydrogen migration in doped selective layers as the primary driver of UV-induced degradation in silicon heterojunction solar cells. They have also found that combined light and thermal light-soaking treatments can partially restore performance and improve long-term UV stability.

Halocell Energy is set to benefit from the development of a sovereign supply chain for high-purity precursors to perovskite after signing a memorandum of understanding with Queensland advanced materials company Lava Blue.

Researchers from KAUST, TU Delft, and LMU Munich have improved the performance of monolithic perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells by modifying the physical structure at the front of the bottom heterojunction solar cell.

China-based PV equipment supplier Ideal Energy (Shanghai) Sunflower Semiconductor has completed an AI-enabled pilot line for ultra-thin, flexible heterojunction (HJT) solar cells, targeting lightweight power systems for space and near-space applications.