Jolywood, Imec Partners to Develop Bifacial Solar Cells with conversion efficiency of up to 21.9%

Jolywood Solar Technology Co. Ltd has partnered with Imec on developing industrialized bifacial solar cells with average front-side conversion efficiency up to 21.9 percent.

As part of the collaboration, Imec has also demonstrated screen-printed monofacial n-PERT solar cells with the conversion efficiency up to 22.8 percent.

Jolywood is at the forefront of the n-type industrial technological developments in the PV industry, so we’re very satisfied with the close collaboration with Imec, the world-leading PV research institution,” said Dr. Zhifeng Liu, R&D Director of Jolywood. “And we’re very delighted with the excellent progress in the development of the high-efficiency bifacial n-PERT solar cells that have come as part of our collaboration. With our strong commercialization capabilities and experience, we look forward to transferring the achievements into commercial production.”

The new bifacial cells developed by the two parties use narrow (~40 μm) printed silver (Ag) fingers on the front side and printed aluminum (Al) fingers on the rear, the latter making contact with the emitter.

By using Al instead of AgAl for the rear contacts, the cost per cell is lowered to US$0.01/Wp. On a batch of M2-sized cells (area: 244.3 cm²), an average conversion efficiency of 21.9 percent was demonstrated, with the best cell topping 22.1 percent.

Used in bifacial operations under standard front illumination conditions in conjunction with an additional 0.15 sun rear illumination, these cells can achieve an efficiency of 25 percent.

Additionally, Imec also fabricates screen-printed monofacial n-PERT cells with efficiencies up to 22.8 percent, which is a state-of-the-art result for an industry-compatible fabrication process.

Also, the PV module has been proven compliant with the essential requirements and a certificate from TÜV SÜD, the prestigious German product testing organization.