Perovskite-silicon solar cell research collaboration hits 25.2% efficiency

Perovskite-based tandem solar cells can achieve now efficiencies better than 25%.

Perovskite-based tandem solar cells can achieve now efficiencies better than 25%. © HZB

A 1 cm2 perovskite silicon tandem solar cell achieves an independently certified efficiency of 25.2 %. This was presented this week at an international conference in Hawaii, USA. The cell was developed jointly by HZB, Oxford University and Oxford PV - The Perovskite CompanyTM.

"Perovskite-based tandem solar cells can use light particularly efficiently and therefore offer the opportunity to achieve even higher efficiencies. That is why we have significantly expanded our expertise with the new Helmholtz innovation laboratory HySPRINT," says Prof. Dr. Rutger Schlatmann, Director of the Competence Center Thin Film and Nanotechnology for Photovoltaics Berlin (PVcomB) at HZB. "In our cooperation with Oxford PV, we aim to further optimize perovskite silicon tandem cells, demonstrate their scalability and facilitate their integration into large-area solar modules. For this new result we have optimized our high-efficiency silicon heterojunction bottom cell and developed an optical adaptation to the top cell using a very specific SiOx intermediate layer".

At the World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC-7 in Waikoloa, Hawaii, tandem solar cells involving perovskites were an important topic: two records have been presented with 25.2% certified efficiency: one from the group of Prof. Christophe Ballif at EPFL/CSEM and one from the consortium HZB/OxfordPV/Oxford University, presented by HZB scientist Dr. Bernd Stannowski. The third one, with 25.0% certified efficiency is a tandem cell developed by an HZB team headed by Dr. Steve Albrecht.

Oxford PV was established in 2010 and has had a close working relationship with Professor Snaith’s research group at the University of Oxford. In January 2018, Oxford PV announced its collaboration with HZB, the leading German research centre focused on energy materials research.

Press Release by Oxford PV

More Information on PVcomB at HZB

More Information on HySPRINT at HZB

More Information on the group Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics at University of Oxford

  • Copy link

You might also be interested in

  • Successful master's degree in IR thermography on solar facades
    News
    22.10.2025
    Successful master's degree in IR thermography on solar facades
    We are delighted to congratulate our student employee Luca Raschke on successfully completing her Master's degree in Renewable Energies at the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin - and with distinction!
  • BESSY II: Phosphorous chains – a 1D material with 1D electronic properties
    Science Highlight
    21.10.2025
    BESSY II: Phosphorous chains – a 1D material with 1D electronic properties
    For the first time, a team at BESSY II has succeeded in demonstrating the one-dimensional electronic properties of a material through a highly refined experimental process. The samples consisted of short chains of phosphorus atoms that self-organise at specific angles on a silver substrate. Through sophisticated analysis, the team was able to disentangle the contributions of these differently aligned chains. This revealed that the electronic properties of each chain are indeed one-dimensional. Calculations predict an exciting phase transition to be expected as soon as these chains are more closely packed. While material consisting of individual chains with longer distances is semiconducting, a very dense chain structure would be metallic.
  • Did marine life in the palaeocene use a compass?
    Science Highlight
    20.10.2025
    Did marine life in the palaeocene use a compass?
    Some ancient marine organisms produced mysterious magnetic particles of unusually large size, which can now be found as fossils in marine sediments. An international team has succeeded in mapping the magnetic domains on one of such ‘giant magnetofossils’ using a sophisticated method at the Diamond X-ray source. Their analysis shows that these particles could have allowed these organisms to sense tiny variations in both the direction and intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field, enabling them to geolocate themselves and navigate across the ocean. The method offers a powerful tool for magnetically testing whether putative biological iron oxide particles in Mars samples have a biogenic origin.