A German research team has made a groundbreaking achievement in the field of organic PV modules, setting a new efficiency record of 14.46%. The performance was certified by the prestigious Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy’s PV calibration laboratory (CalLab).
December 19, 2023 Valerie Thompson
Andreas Distler, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (r) and Hans-Joachim Egelhaaf, Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg (HI ERN) (l)
Image: Kurt Fuchs/HI ERN
Researchers at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have achieved a significant milestone by reaching a power conversion efficiency of 14.46% for an organic PV module.
“The size of the new record OPV module is 204 cm². The number of cells connected in series is 38,” said Andreas Distler, Group Leader OPV Modules at FAU, in an interview with pv magazine. He also anticipates that the results will soon be featured in the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) champion PV module efficiency chart.
The new record marks an improvement from the previous highest efficiency of 13.1%, set by Taiwan-based OPV specialist, Ways Technical Corporation (Waystech) and Nanobit.
In their press release, the research team credited the efficiency enhancement to several project aspects: the active materials used, laser processing to reduce inactive surface areas and improve interconnects, and the use of simulations to achieve a more uniform coating, in partnership with a team from Georg Simon Ohm University of Applied Sciences in Nuremberg.
The interdisciplinary research team included scientists from Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (HI ERN), part of Forschungszentrum Jülich. “We are currently preparing a paper on the development of this new record module, which will disclose all the technical details,” said Distler.
In 2020, the same FAU team achieved 12.6% efficiency on a module area of 26 cm2 and 11.7% on a module area of 204 cm2.
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