LONGi has set a new world record for crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cell efficiency, reaching 35.5 percent in a result certified by the European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) and presented at the Solar and Energy Storage Innovation Conference on 14 July 2026.
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The figure is the latest in a sequence of rapid gains from LONGi's Central Research Institute. The team stood at 33.9 percent in November 2023 and 34.6 percent in June 2024. In the year that followed, it pushed through 34.85 percent and 35.2 percent before arriving at the current mark. The pace is putting pressure on European research institutions, including the Fraunhofer institutes in Germany, which have long set the benchmark for tandem cell development.
From lab to module
At dimensions closer to industrial scale, the cell reached 34.3 percent on 261 cm² and 32.2 percent on 274 cm², with tandem modules recording 31.4 percent and 29.4 percent, all certified and listed in the same tables. Crystalline silicon-perovskite tandems combine two absorber layers to capture a broader slice of the solar spectrum. The architecture carries a theoretical efficiency ceiling of around 43 percent, well above the 33.7 percent Shockley-Queisser limit that constrains conventional single-junction cells.
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LONGi structures its cell development as a tiered pipeline, with one generation in mass production while the next is in development and a further generation held in reserve. "This structured approach allows us to convert successive laboratory results into certified performance at both cell and module level," says Zhong Baoshen, CEO of LONGi. "Our goal is to accelerate the transition of tandem technology from the laboratory to industrial manufacturing." (TF)
