Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a six-junction III–V solar cell with a 47.1% conversion efficiency rate under 143 Suns concentration.
They said that they have achieved an efficiency rate of 39.2% under one-sun illumination. The cell is based on six different photoactive layers fabricated with alloys of III–V semiconductors, which can each capture light from a specific part of the solar spectrum.
“The device contains about 140 total layers of various III-V materials to support the performance of these junctions, and yet is three times narrower than a human hair,” the scientists said.