Graphene Technology Empowers Solar Cells: Breakthroughs in Efficiency and Stability

Graphene Technology Empowers Solar Cells: Breakthroughs in Efficiency and Stability

In March 2026, graphene applications in the solar cell sector achieved another breakthrough, becoming a key enabler for enhancing photovoltaic performance. A team from East China University of Science and Technology innovatively adopted a graphene-polymer coupled protective layer, successfully addressing the stability pain point of perovskite cells. Under high temperature of 90°C and full-spectrum illumination, the device operated continuously for 3,670 hours (approximately 153 days) while maintaining 97% of its initial power conversion efficiency, setting a new record for stable operation of similar devices and removing a core obstacle to commercialization.

In terms of performance improvement, graphene, with its high conductivity and high transparency, is widely used in transparent conductive electrodes and charge transport layers. After a breakthrough in the process for bilayer graphene electrodes, the optical transparency of flexible cells reached up to 69%, adapting to multiple cell structures such as PERC and perovskite. This effectively suppresses carrier recombination, pushing module efficiency to new heights. Meanwhile, graphene-based dye-sensitized cells are accelerating industrialization, with significantly increased penetration in flexible PV and building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) scenarios. In 2025, the Chinese market size reached 382 million RMB, a year-on-year increase of 24.7%, far exceeding the growth rate of traditional crystalline silicon modules.

Currently, graphene technology is moving from the laboratory to mass production. The cost of domestically produced materials continues to decline, and integration processes with silicon-based and perovskite cells are maturing. With the implementation of the "General Technical Specification for Graphene-Based Photovoltaic Devices," the application scenarios for graphene solar cells in areas such as flexible devices, vehicle-mounted charging, and BIPV will further expand, providing new momentum for improving the quality and efficiency of the photovoltaic industry.