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The solar-energy revolution has been powered by silicon for decades, but conventional ‘single junction’ solar cells made from crystalline silicon are approaching their practical limits. The best laboratory-scale devices can convert about 28% of sunlight into electricity, close to the maximum efficiency of about 29% that is thought to be possible for cells of this type1. Writing in Nature, Artuk et al.2 report innovations that enable a different solar-cell design — a ‘triple junction’ device in which materials called perovskites are used in combination with silicon — to achieve greater than 30% efficiency. Their work brings such devices closer to fulfilling their long-anticipated potential of reaching efficiencies well beyond those that can be achieved using silicon alone.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-01149-9

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Competing Interests

S.D.S. is a co-founder of Swift Solar, Inc.

Read the paper: Triple-1 junction solar cells with improved carrier and photon management

Redirecting current solves a shadowy problem faced by perovskite solar cells

Solar cells that combine multiple perovskite layers surpass 30% efficiency

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