Solar Breakthroughs Are Promising More Power From Less Space
March 22, 2025
ByFelicity Bradstock– Mar 22, 2025, 10:00 AM CDT
- Researchers are making significant strides in solar panel technology, particularly with perovskites, which can boost efficiency when combined with silicon.
- Artificial intelligence is being utilized to optimize solar farm performance, enhancing energy production through improved panel positioning and data analysis.
- Innovations like transparent solar windows and advancements in heat-resistant materials are opening new avenues for solar energy integration in buildings and everyday objects.
As the world strives to decarbonize by deploying more renewable energy capacity, technological breakthroughs in green energy equipment are helping governments achieve their goals. Solar panel technology has come leaps and bounds over the last decade, and researchers worldwide are racing to continue improving the technology to support a global green transition. Several new solar technologies may help massively boost the efficiency of solar panels, helping to produce more power while using less space.
When the first solar cell was invented in 1883 it could turn just 1 to 2 percent of the sunlight it absorbed into electricity. Over the last 150 years, solar technology has come a long way, and now silicon-based solar cells can convert around 22 percent of absorbed sunshine into electricity. As solar cell technology improves, scientists can reduce the size of solar panels as they become more efficient, reducing the amount of land required to produce large amounts of clean electricity.
‘;
document.write(write_html);
}
Researchers have made recent breakthroughs in perovskites, a crystalline compound that may boost the efficiency of future solar panels. Perovskites are capable of responding to different colors in the solar spectrum and when combined with another material, such as silicon, they boost power production. Several labs around the world are assessing the potential of perovskites, with varying approaches.
At present, the perovskite cells being produced by researchers are very small, at around 1cm2. The job now is to scale up the technology. Perovskite can be applied in a variety of ways. For example, it can be turned into ink to be printed on an object or into thread to be sewn into fabric or building materials. It is thin and flexible, which makes it easy to integrate into everyday objects to help boost efficiency.
Another key technology for the solar energy sector is artificial intelligence (AI). Researchers are increasingly using AI technology to improve the efficiency of solar farms by understanding how various factors can affect solar panel efficiency to optimize production. For example, incorporating AI algorithms into a solar farm can help researchers understand how solar panels should be positioned throughout the day to help them absorb the most sunlight.
Scientists are also exploring the potential of several other technologies, such as transparent solar technology in the form of solar windows, which could turn skyscrapers and other large buildings into massive power-generating hubs. Researchers from the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea made a breakthrough in transparent solar panel technology last year when they created a glass-like transparent crystalline silicon cell. This has opened the door for further improvements to be made to develop commercial-scale clear and efficient solar panels.
In the U.S., researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT) found a way to make transport layer material (HTL) – often used in perovskite solar cells – less susceptible to heat-induced crystallization. The team uses vapor phase infiltration to implant titanium oxide/hydroxide into HTL to make the film more resistant to heat and, therefore, more stable. Preventing crystallization can help boost efficiency by over 80 percent according to the researchers.
“We are currently looking for partners to license this technology, and for scaling up of the process. The idea is that we can scale up this process to infiltrate panels, not just small area cells,” GIT Associate Professor Juan Pablo Correa-Baena stated. The technology is now under review to be patented.
In China, a team at the photovoltaic (PV) company LONGi presented its strongest-ever solar panel, produced using perovskite. The researchers integrated perovskite into silicon solar cells to develop tandem cells that are made stronger and more efficient from the combination of the two materials. The new solar panel was shown to have an efficiency level 0.7 percent higher than its predecessor when tested. The development of these types of cells could also help drive down the cost of solar panel production.
Other solar cell developers have since experimented with this technology in an attempt to make the most even more efficient solar panels. In January 2025, China’s JinkoSolar announced a 33.84 percent efficiency for their perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) previously announced a perovskite-silicon tandem device with an efficiency of 33.7 percent. However, LONGi continues to hold the current record for the perovskite-tandem solar cell, having achieved 34.6 percent efficiency in September 2024.
Solar power technology has come a long way over the last century and a half and, thanks to greater funding in recent years, efficient improvements are now being made every year. As researchers worldwide assess the potential of a variety of different materials, solar panel efficiency is expected to keep improving over the coming decades, while production prices fall. This will support an accelerated green transition, as more clean power is produced using less land, making solar projects more attractive to governments and private companies alike.
By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
Search
RECENT PRESS RELEASES
Related Post
