Panasonic Corporation said it has achieved the world's highest energy conversion efficiency of 25.6 per cent through its HIT(R) Solar Cell at research level.

This is a major increase over the previous world record for crystalline silicon-based solar cells, said the company in a statement.

The previous record for the conversion efficiency of crystalline silicon-based solar cells of a practical size (100 sq cm and over) was 24.7 per cent, as announced by Panasonic in February 2013 (cell area: 101.8 sq  cm). The new record is 0.9 points higher and the first to break through the 25 per cent barrier for practical size cells.

This new record is also an improvement of 0.6 points over the previous record for small area crystalline silicon-based solar cells (cell area: 4 sq cm) of 25 per cent, stated the company.

The achievement of this new record was made possible by further development of Panasonic's proprietary heterojunction technology*6 to realize the high conversion efficiency and superior high temperature properties of the company's HIT solar cells as well as adopting a back-contact solar cell structure, with the electrodes on the back of the solar cell, which allows the more efficient utilization of sunlight.

Panasonic said it will continue to pursue technology development of its HIT solar cells, aimed at realizing higher efficiency, lower costs and the more efficient use of resources, and will work towards mass production.-TradeArabia News Service