IBM Sets New Solar Cell Efficiency World Record

February 14th, 2010 by Zachary Shahan

It is not the world record for ALL solar cells, but for solar cells using certain cheap and highly available materials, IBM has just set a new world record.

The world record is for solar cells composed of copper, tin, zinc, sulfur, selenium, or similar materials. The new record is about 40% better than the previous best for solar cells using such materials. The efficiency rate of IBM’s new technology is 9.6%. The previous best was 6.7%.

“In a given hour, more energy from sunlight strikes the earth than the entire planet consumes in a year, but solar cells currently contribute less than 0.1 percent of electricity supply…” said Dr. David Mitzi, a lead researcher for IBM. “The quest to develop a solar technology that can compare on a cost per watt basis with the conventional electricity generation… has become a major challenge that our research is moving us closer to overcoming.”

According to IBM, the only other solar cells that can boast an efficiency rate of 9 to 11% are made of extremely costly indium gallium selenide or cadmium telluride.

Although an improvement in solar cell efficiency using any materials is great news, an improvement in efficiency using the most readily available and cheapest materials is an exceptionally useful achievement. Great work by IBM on this one!

I welcome any solar technology experts (or anyone, for that matter) to provide additional information or perspective below.

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

http://www.materialsviews.com Adrian Miller

Thanks for the interest in this work! I’m an editor for the materials science journal that published the original work behind this story, Advanced Materials. I’m not sufficiently well versed to give an expert perspective, but for anyone who’s interested in more information on the science behind the story, we’ve set the original article as free to access; you can find it here: http://www.materialsviews.com/matview/display/en/1412/TEXT

Adrian Miller

Advanced Materials
http://www.materialsviews.com Adrian Miller

Thanks for the interest in this work! I’m an editor for the materials science journal that published the original work behind this story, Advanced Materials. I’m not sufficiently well versed to give an expert perspective, but for anyone who’s interested in more information on the science behind the story, we’ve set the original article as free to access; you can find it here: http://www.materialsviews.com/matview/display/en/1412/TEXT

Adrian Miller

Advanced Materials
http://guntherportfolio.com/ Ed Gunther

“According to IBM, the only other solar cells that can boast an efficiency rate of 9 to 11% are made of extremely costly indium gallium selenide or cadmium telluride.”

Of course you mean thin film solar cells & modules here. Crystalline silicon solar cells range from ~14% to over 20%. For thin films, even a-Si (amorphous Silicon) micromorph/tandem modules can be manufactured at the lower end of cited efficiency range today.

IBM’s material set is interesting; any new solar technology will take 3-5 years to ramp if IBM =has= plans to commercialize it. IBM has a habit of announcing research milestones and going quiet.
http://guntherportfolio.com/ Ed Gunther

“According to IBM, the only other solar cells that can boast an efficiency rate of 9 to 11% are made of extremely costly indium gallium selenide or cadmium telluride.”

Of course you mean thin film solar cells & modules here. Crystalline silicon solar cells range from ~14% to over 20%. For thin films, even a-Si (amorphous Silicon) micromorph/tandem modules can be manufactured at the lower end of cited efficiency range today.

IBM’s material set is interesting; any new solar technology will take 3-5 years to ramp if IBM =has= plans to commercialize it. IBM has a habit of announcing research milestones and going quiet.
http://GlobalPatriot.com Global Patriot

With governments around the world virtually bankrupt, this push my major corporations to improve sustainable technology is key. We need more breakthroughs such as this to make solar energy a viable player in energy markets.
http://GlobalPatriot.com Global Patriot

With governments around the world virtually bankrupt, this push my major corporations to improve sustainable technology is key. We need more breakthroughs such as this to make solar energy a viable player in energy markets.
http://www.clemson.edu/ces/departments/ece/faculty_staff/faculty/rsingh.html Rajendra Singh

sorry for wrong e mail in previous posting
http://www.clemson.edu/ces/departments/ece/faculty_staff/faculty/rsingh.html Rajendra Singh

sorry for wrong e mail in previous posting
http://www.clemson.edu/ces/departments/ece/faculty_staff/faculty/rsingh.html Rajendra Singh

What IBM said is true. However this is not even half of the story. In order to make any significant impact of this story in the real world, PV we have to know cost of ownership. For details read my paper

R. Singh, “Why Silicon is and will Remain the Dominant Photovoltaic Material”, Journal of Nanophotonics, vol. 3, 032503, 16 July 2009.

Top 10 Download Article in SPIE Digitial Library till December 11, 2009

http://spie.org/x34650.xml?WT.mc_id=KDL1209INSTE#Top10

http://spie.org/x34650.xml?WT.mc_id=KDL1209INSTE#Solar
http://www.clemson.edu/ces/departments/ece/faculty_staff/faculty/rsingh.html Rajendra Singh

What IBM said is true. However this is not even half of the story. In order to make any significant impact of this story in the real world, PV we have to know cost of ownership. For details read my paper

R. Singh, “Why Silicon is and will Remain the Dominant Photovoltaic Material”, Journal of Nanophotonics, vol. 3, 032503, 16 July 2009.

Top 10 Download Article in SPIE Digitial Library till December 11, 2009

http://spie.org/x34650.xml?WT.mc_id=KDL1209INSTE#Top10

http://spie.org/x34650.xml?WT.mc_id=KDL1209INSTE#Solar