Mitsubishi Electric Corp. says it has achieved a photoelectric conversion efficiency rate of 18.6 percent in a 150-millimeter-square practical-use multicrystalline silicon solar cell – an improvement of 0.6 percent over the company's previous record.
The company says it was able to reach this conversion efficiency rate by adding a low-reflectivity surface texture on the multicrystalline silicon wafer, via optimizing the p-n junction to increase electric current generation and developing a metallization process to print electrodes on the surface of the silicon to reduce shade loss of front grid electrodes.
This technology will contribute to higher efficiency in small installations, such as narrow roofs. Mitsubishi Electric is planning on introducing this technology into its mass-produced photovoltaic modules by fiscal-year 2011.
