This Engineer’s Photo voltaic Panels Are Breaking Effectivity Information

An incredulous Chen marveled at not solely the expertise but in addition the economics. An influence authority would pay its clients?

It appeared like magic: helpful and beneficial electrical energy extracted from easy daylight. The surprise of all of it has fueled his desires ever since.

In 2013 Chen earned a Ph.D. in photovoltaic sciences and applied sciences, and at this time he’s assistant vp of expertise at China’s Trina Photo voltaic, a Changzhou-based firm that is without doubt one of the largest PV producers on this planet. He leads the corporate’s R&D group, whose efforts have set greater than two dozen world information for solar energy effectivity and output.

For Chen’s contributions to the science and expertise of photovoltaic vitality conversion, the IEEE member acquired the 2023 IEEE Stuart R. Wenham Younger Skilled Award from the IEEE Electron Units Society.

“I used to be fairly stunned and so grateful” to obtain the Wenham Award, Chen says. “It’s a really high-level recognition, and there are such a lot of deserving specialists from world wide.”

Trina Photo voltaic’s push for extra environment friendly {hardware}

In the present day’s industrial photo voltaic panels sometimes obtain about 20 % effectivity: They will flip one-fifth of captured daylight into electrical energy. Chen’s group is making an attempt to make the panels extra environment friendly.

The group is specializing in optimizing photo voltaic cell designs, together with the passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC), which is the business normal for commodity photo voltaic panels.

Invented in 1983, PERCs are used at this time in practically 90 % of photo voltaic panels available on the market. They incorporate coatings on the back and front to seize daylight extra successfully and to keep away from shedding vitality, each on the surfaces and because the daylight travels by way of the cell. The coatings, generally known as passivation layers, are made out of supplies equivalent to silicon nitride, silicon dioxide, and aluminum oxide. The layers maintain negatively charged free electrons and positively charged electron holes aside, stopping them from combining on the floor of the photo voltaic cell and losing vitality.

Chen and his workforce have developed a number of methods to spice up the efficiency of PERC panels, hitting a file of 24.5 % effectivity in 2022. One of many applied sciences is a multilayer antireflective coating that helps photo voltaic panels lure extra mild. In addition they created extraordinarily superb metallization fingers—slim traces on photo voltaic cells’ surfaces—to gather and transport the electrical present and assist seize extra daylight. And so they developed a sophisticated methodology for laying the strips of conductive steel that run throughout the photo voltaic cell, generally known as bus bars.

Consultants predict the utmost effectivity of PERC expertise will probably be reached quickly, topping out at about 25 %.

IEEE Member Yifeng Chen shows an i-TOPCon photo voltaic module, which has a manufacturing effectivity of greater than 23 % and an influence output of as much as 720 watts.Trina Photo voltaic

“So the query is: How will we get photo voltaic cells much more environment friendly?” Chen says.

In the course of the previous few years he and his group have been engaged on tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) expertise. A TOPCon cell makes use of a skinny layer of “tunneling oxide” insulating materials—sometimes silicon dioxide—which is utilized to the photo voltaic cell’s floor. Just like the passivation layers on PERC cells, the tunnel oxide stops free electrons and electron holes from combining and losing vitality.

In 2022 Trina created a TOPCon-type panel with a file 25.5 % effectivity, and two months in the past the firm introduced it had achieved a file 740.6 watts for a mass-produced TOPCon photo voltaic module. The latter was the twenty sixth file Trina set for solar energy–associated efficiencies and outputs.

To attain that record-breaking efficiency for his or her TOPCon panels, Chen and his workforce optimized the corporate’s manufacturing processes together with laser-induced firing, during which a laser heats a part of the photo voltaic cell and creates bonds between the steel contacts and the silicon wafer. The ensuing connections are stronger and higher aligned, enhancing effectivity.

“We’re making an attempt to maintain bettering issues to lure just a bit bit extra daylight,” Chen says. “Gaining 1 or 2 % extra effectivity is big. These might sound like very tiny will increase, however at scale these small enhancements create a whole lot of worth by way of economics, sustainability, and worth to society.”

Because the effectivity of photo voltaic cells rises and costs drop, Chen says, he expects solar energy to proceed to develop world wide. China at present leads the world in put in solar energy capability, accounting for about 40 % of world capability. The US is a distant second, with 12 %, based on a 2023 Rystad Power report. The report predicts that China’s 500 gigawatts of photo voltaic capability in 2023 is more likely to exceed 1 terawatt by 2026.

“I’m impressed by utilizing science to create one thing helpful for human beings, after which pushed by the pursuit for excellence,” Chen says. “We are able to at all times be taught one thing new to make that change, enhance that piece of expertise, and get simply that little bit higher.”

Skilled by solar-power pioneers

Chen attended Solar Yat-sen College in Guangzhou, China, incomes a bachelor’s diploma in optics sciences and applied sciences in 2008. He stayed on to pursue a Ph.D. in photovoltaics sciences and applied sciences. His analysis was on high-efficiency photo voltaic cells made out of wafer-based crystalline silicon. His adviser was Hui Shen, a number one PV professor and founding father of the college’s Institute for Photo voltaic Power Methods. Chen calls him “the primary of three crucial figures in my scientific profession.”

In 2011 Chen spent a yr as a Ph.D. pupil at Leibniz College Hannover, in Germany. There he studied below Pietro P. Altermatt, the second influential determine in his profession.

Altermatt—a outstanding silicon solar-cell professional who would later turn out to be principal scientist at Trina—suggested Chen on his computational strategies for modeling and analyzing the conduct of 2D and 3D photo voltaic cells. The fashions play a key function in designing photo voltaic cells to optimize their output.

“Gaining 1 or 2 % extra effectivity is big. These might sound like very tiny will increase, however at scale, these small enhancements create a whole lot of worth by way of economics, sustainability, and worth to society.”

“Dr. Altermatt modified how I have a look at issues,” Chen says. “In Germany, they actually give attention to system physics.”

After finishing his Ph.D., Chen turned a technical assistant at Trina, the place he met the third extremely influential particular person in his profession: Pierre Verlinden, a pioneering photovoltaic researcher who was the corporate’s chief scientist.

At Trina, Chen shortly ascended by way of R&D roles. He has been the corporate’s assistant vp of expertise since 2023.

IEEE’s “treasure” trove of analysis

Chen joined IEEE as a pupil as a result of he wished to attend the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Convention, the longest-running occasion devoted to photovoltaics, photo voltaic cells, and solar energy.

The membership was significantly useful throughout his Ph.D. research, he says, as a result of he used the IEEE Xplore Digital Library to entry archival papers.

“My work has actually been impressed by papers I discovered by way of IEEE,” Chen says. “Plus, you find yourself clicking round and studying different work that isn’t associated to your area however is so attention-grabbing.

“The publication repository is a treasure. It’s eye-opening to see what’s happening inside and outdoors of your business, with new discoveries occurring on a regular basis.”