Key to this is continuing improvements in conversion efficiency, and with the development of the first four-junction, four-terminal stacked solar cell produced using a micro transfer printing process, researchers have taken another step towards this goal by achieving efficiencies of up to 43.9 percent, with the possibility of exceeding 50 percent in the near future.

The multilayer, microscale solar cell was created by North Carolina-based Semprius Inc. and California-based Solar Junction, working in collaboration with a team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign led by Professor John Rogers. Using Semprius' proprietary high-speed micro transfer printing process high that it says is able to simultaneously produce thousands of stacked microcells with very high yields, the team stacked a triple-junction microcell on top of a single-junction microcell to create a four-junction, four-terminal stacked solar cell.