Gallium Arsenide Solar Panel Efficiency

Alta devices gallium arsenide solar research cells have been certified with a 29 1 efficiency setting a new single junction solar cell efficiency record.

Gallium arsenide solar panel efficiency. Gallium arsenide solar cells can reach a top efficiency of 27 80. Solar cells and detectors gallium arsenide is an important semiconductor material for high cost high efficiency solar cells and is used for single crystalline thin film solar cells and for multi junction solar cells. The same company has now set an efficiency record for an entire solar panel at 23 5 percent. The first known operational use of gaas solar cells in space was for the venera 3 mission launched in 1965.

The australian university of new south wales unsw back around 1985 invented a super efficiency gallium arsenide solar cell these are multiple layered pv cells that converts more rays of sun s energy efficiency to over 40. This makes them a good candidate for a stacked type of solar panels used for collecting light from all across the spectrum. Alta devices makes solar panels using gallium arsenide cells a more efficient material than the generally cheaper silicon based cells. Instead of being constructed from solid silicon wafers like mono or poly crystalline solar panels amorphous panels are made by depositing non crystalline silicon on a substrate like glass plastic or metal one layer of silicon on an amorphous solar panel can be as thin.

As a runner up multi junction cells made of gallium arsenide and similar materials resist degradation better than silicon and are the most efficient cells currently made with energy conversion efficiencies up to 34. Gaas solar cells can harness more sunlight than silicon based solar cells because they are made using a soft and silvery metal which can also be found in electronic circuits semiconductor materials and light emitting diodes. Gallium arsenide solar cells can have roughly 25 efficiency rating with only one junction. When it comes to the efficiency of the photovoltaic industry it is inseparable from theoretical efficiency and mass production efficiency.

In a recent article in the magazine electronic news gallium arsenide was tested on a germanium substrate. The record was independently confirmed by the national renewable energy laboratory part of the department of energy. One of the great advantages of gallium arsenide is that the theoretical efficiency is high almost twice as high as that of crystalline silicon.