This Engineer’s Photo voltaic Panels Are Breaking Effectivity Data

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 worthwhile 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 vice chairman of expertise at China’s Trina Photo voltaic, a Changzhou-based firm that is among 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 power conversion, the IEEE member obtained the 2023 IEEE Stuart R. Wenham Younger Skilled Award from the IEEE Electron Gadgets Society.

“I used to be fairly shocked 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 all over the world.”

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

In the present day’s business photo voltaic panels sometimes obtain about 20 p.c effectivity: They’ll 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 trade customary for commodity photo voltaic panels.

Invented in 1983, PERCs are used at this time in practically 90 p.c 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 power, each on the surfaces and because the daylight travels via the cell. The coatings, often known as passivation layers, are constituted of supplies akin to silicon nitride, silicon dioxide, and aluminum oxide. The layers preserve negatively charged free electrons and positively charged electron holes aside, stopping them from combining on the floor of the photo voltaic cell and losing power.

Chen and his crew have developed a number of methods to spice up the efficiency of PERC panels, hitting a document of 24.5 p.c effectivity in 2022. One of many applied sciences is a multilayer antireflective coating that helps photo voltaic panels entice extra gentle. Additionally they created extraordinarily fantastic 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 complicated technique for laying the strips of conductive metallic that run throughout the photo voltaic cell, often known as bus bars.

Specialists predict the utmost effectivity of PERC expertise can be reached quickly, topping out at about 25 p.c.

IEEE Member Yifeng Chen shows an i-TOPCon photo voltaic module, which has a manufacturing effectivity of greater than 23 p.c 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.

Throughout 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 power.

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

To attain that record-breaking efficiency for his or her TOPCon panels, Chen and his crew optimized the corporate’s manufacturing processes together with laser-induced firing, by which a laser heats a part of the photo voltaic cell and creates bonds between the metallic 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 entice just a bit bit extra daylight,” Chen says. “Gaining 1 or 2 p.c extra effectivity is large. These could sound like very tiny will increase, however at scale these small enhancements create numerous worth when it comes to 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 all over the world. China presently leads the world in put in solar energy capability, accounting for about 40 p.c of world capability. The US is a distant second, with 12 p.c, in response to a 2023 Rystad Vitality 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 through the use of science to create one thing helpful for human beings, after which pushed by the pursuit for excellence,” Chen says. “We will at all times study one thing new to make that change, enhance that piece of expertise, and get simply that little bit higher.”

Educated 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 constituted 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 Vitality Techniques. Chen calls him “the primary of three crucial figures in my scientific profession.”

In 2011 Chen spent a 12 months as a Ph.D. scholar at Leibniz College Hannover, in Germany. There he studied underneath Pietro P. Altermatt, the second influential determine in his profession.

Altermatt—a distinguished silicon solar-cell professional who would later grow to be principal scientist at Trina—suggested Chen on his computational strategies for modeling and analyzing the habits 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 p.c extra effectivity is large. These could sound like very tiny will increase, however at scale, these small enhancements create numerous worth when it comes to economics, sustainability, and worth to society.”

“Dr. Altermatt modified how I take a look at issues,” Chen says. “In Germany, they actually deal with gadget physics.”

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

At Trina, Chen rapidly ascended via R&D roles. He has been the corporate’s assistant vice chairman of expertise since 2023.

IEEE’s “treasure” trove of analysis

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

The membership was notably 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 definitely 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 subject however is so attention-grabbing.

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