China-based solar photovoltaics company Trina Solar has announced that its industrial n-type total passivation (TOPAS) solar cell, based on heterojunction technology, achieved a front-side efficiency of 27.08 %.

The Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin, Germany, verified the company’s claim.

Trina said this is the first time a crystalline silicon solar cell with front and back contact structures surpassed 27% efficiency on the front side, which will result in greater efficiency for solar cells in power generation.

The solar cells use a large-area n-type phosphorus-doped cubic zirconia (Cz) silicon wafer substrate measuring 210×105 mm². This substrate has a high ‘minority carrier lifetime,’ which reduces recombination losses and enhances overall efficiency.

The solar cells feature an optimized thin film passivating contact on the solar panel’s surface, which enhances charge carrier extraction, reduces recombination losses, improves electrical charge collection, and minimizes energy loss.

Each cell contains a variable-frequency RF nanocrystalline p-type emitter, enhancing carrier collection efficiency while minimizing resistance losses.

It features an advanced light-trapping design that boosts photon absorption by reducing reflection and fine-line printing technologies to minimize shading losses on the cell surface.

These features combined help achieve the record efficiency in the TOPAS cells.

Recently, South Korea-based solar cell and module manufacturer Qcells announced that it achieved a 28.6% tandem solar cell efficiency on a full-area M10-sized cell that can be scaled for mass manufacturing.

In November this year, Trina Solar announced that it achieved an efficiency of 26.58% for n-type TOPCon solar cells. This was achieved by inventing a rectangular wafer design used in its high-efficiency solar cell.