Chinese Academy of Sciences Team Sets New World Record with 28.04% Certified Efficiency for Perovskite-Organic Tandem Solar Cells, Demonstrates High Stability and Roll-to-Roll Compatibility

August 17, 2026

Pandaily.com China

Overview

A team led by Academician Li Yongfang and researcher Meng Lei at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Chemistry achieved a certified 28.04% steady-state power conversion efficiency for a perovskite-organic tandem solar cell, setting a new world record for this category. The cells maintained 90% of their initial efficiency after 625 hours of continuous light-soaking and are compatible with solution-processed roll-to-roll printing. This breakthrough accelerates the practical application of next-generation flexible solar cells.

In Depth

Key Findings

A research team spearheaded by Academician Li Yongfang and researcher Meng Lei at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Chemistry has set a new world record for perovskite-organic tandem solar cells, achieving a certified steady-state power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 28.04%. This groundbreaking achievement significantly pushes the efficiency limits in this tandem configuration while substantially enhancing device long-term stability. Notably, the cells retained 90% of their initial efficiency after 625 hours of continuous light-soaking and demonstrated compatibility with solution-processed roll-to-roll (R2R) printing, strongly propelling large-scale production and flexible device applications.

Technical and Manufacturing Details

Perovskite-Organic Tandem Structure: This tandem solar cell employs a layered architecture, with a wide-bandgap perovskite layer on top and an organic solar cell layer beneath. The perovskite layer efficiently absorbs high-energy photons, while the organic layer complementarily absorbs lower-energy photons, maximizing the utilization of the entire solar spectrum for high efficiency. This combination also enables lightweight and flexible devices compared to traditional silicon-based tandems.
28.04% Steady-State PCE: “Steady-state” PCE refers to the stable efficiency of a solar cell under continuous operation, which is considered more representative of practical performance than short-term peak efficiencies. The 28.04% record is the highest reported for perovskite-organic tandem solar cells globally, significantly elevating the performance benchmark for this specific technology category.
High Stability: The devices exhibited remarkable stability, maintaining 90% of their initial efficiency after 625 hours of continuous light-soaking. This suggests that degradation pathways, such as photoinduced degradation and ion migration, have been effectively suppressed through optimized interfaces and bulk structures of both perovskite and organic materials.
Roll-to-Roll Printing Compatibility: Compatibility with solution-processed roll-to-roll (R2R) printing is one of the most significant advantages for the commercialization of this technology. R2R printing enables low-cost, high-speed, and large-area manufacturing of flexible devices, holding immense potential for drastically reducing solar cell production costs.

Background and Context

Flexible solar cells are experiencing growing demand for diverse applications, including Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV), wearable devices, IoT sensors, and electric vehicles. The combination of perovskite and organic materials is highly promising for these markets due to its advantages in lightweight, flexibility, and semi-transparency. However, achieving both high efficiency and stability, alongside establishing scalable manufacturing techniques, has been a long-standing challenge. China is nationally committed to developing renewable energy technologies, particularly next-generation solar cells, and this achievement serves as a powerful impetus.

Strategic Significance and Outlook

The 28.04% PCE achieved by the Chinese Academy of Sciences team, combined with excellent stability and R2R printing compatibility, marks a substantial step towards the commercialization of perovskite-organic tandem solar cells. This technology holds the potential to introduce low-cost, high-performance flexible solar cells to the market, significantly expanding the scope of photovoltaic applications. Future efforts will likely focus on optimizing cost-efficiency in large-scale production, conducting further long-term field tests, and validating durability under various environmental conditions, with the expectation that this innovative technology will contribute significantly to the global clean energy transition.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1vmcaxu/china_sets_a_new_world_record_for/

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