Sharp Acheives 35.8% Solar Cell Efficiency

Sharp Corporation just reached a record-breaking solar cell efficiency of 35.8%. The electronics company developed a new process wherein three light-converting layers are used to convert light to solar electricity.  This development, called a “triple junction compound cell,” differs from traditional polysilicon cells that use only one layer to convert sunlight.  Polysilicon has only achieved efficiency at 18% in the lab.

In order to reach such high efficiency, the company had to find better ways to control crystallinity (regularity of atom arrangement) and a more effective way to convert the primary material, germanium, more efficiently.  Sharp accomplished this by using layering.  But don’t look for this efficiency on a panel for residential applications anytime soon – these exceptional cells are used almost solely for the space program.

The image to the left shows the difference in conventional polysilicon cells and Sharp’s new layered technology.  In the end, each of the layers in Sharp’s triple junction cell converts energy, but the base layer is still the most efficient of the three.

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