In 1839, Edmund Becquerel, a famous French scientist, discovered the photovoltaic effect.
In 1921, Einstein, a famous French physicist, was awarded the Nobel Prize for a paper explaining the theory of the photoelectric effect.
In 1954, D.M.Chapin, C.S.Fuller, and G.L.Pearson found a raw material of single crystalline silicon, and created a practical 6% efficient single crystalline silicon solar cell in Bell Labs in the United States.
In 1955, Tabor (Israel) proposed the concept and theory of selective absorption surface and successfully developed a selective solar energy absorption coating.
In 1958, the solar cell was first applied in the field of space, and the U.S. Vanguard-I space satellite carried a 0.1W, 100 cm² solar panel to power its radio system.
In 1985, a 20% efficient single crystalline silicon solar cell was created by Martin Green, the Director Professor in the Centre for Photovoltaic Engineering at the University of New South Wales in Australia.
In 1989, a 22.3% efficient Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell (PERC) was created collaboratively by Dr. Zhao Jianhua, the Deputy Director, and his wife Dr. Wang Aihua in the Centre for Photovoltaic Engineering at the University of New South Wales.
In 1994, the Sanyo company of Japan successfully developed the HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin-layer) solar cell, an N-type single crystalline silicon solar cell that achieves 20% conversion efficiency in 1 cm2. Later the Sanyo company realized the commercial mass production of a 100 cm2 17.3% efficient solar cell in 1997, and improved the conversion efficiency up to 21.2% in 2003.
In 1997, Kyoto Protocol was signed, all the countries in the world pushed the application of PV technology to the highest level, and hence, the global solar cell throughput has been growing at very high rate with an annual increase of 30%.
In 1998, a 23% efficient Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell (PERC) was created collaboratively by Dr. Zhao Jianhua and Dr. Wang Aihua in the Centre for Photovoltaic Engineering at the University of New South Wales.
In 1999, a 24.7% efficient PERC with an area of 4 cm2 was achieved by Dr. Zhao Jianhua and Dr. Wang Aihua in the Centre for Photovoltaic Engineering at the University of New South Wales, and they remain the efficiency record-holders to this day.
In 2002, Martin Green, the Director Professor in the Centre for Photovoltaic Engineering at the University of New South Wales, received the Right Livelihood Award (sometimes called the Alternative Nobel Prize which is a complement to the Nobel Prizes) awarded by the Swedish Parliament for his contribution to the world PV industry, and Dr. Zhao Jianhua and Dr. Wang Aihua contributed to this research foundation.
In 2003, Sunpower Corporation of the United States brought forth a 20% efficient Rear-contact Solar Cell, and achieved the commercial mass production of N-type single crystalline silicon A-300 cells.
At the end of 2006, the SHARP company of Japan realized the annual energy output of 500 MW of crystalline silicon solar cells, ranking first in its field worldwide. In November 2007, under the leadership of the Chief scientist Dr. Zhao Jianhua and Dr. Wang Aihua the Deputy general manager of R&D Dept., China Sunergy Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ:CSUN), a specialized solar cell manufacturer with its headquarter located in Nanjing, achieved the commercial mass-production of selective emitter cells (SE) with an average energy conversion efficiency of 17.5%. The solar cells are made of the common P-type silicon material, so the cost of the cells is much lower than that of the Sanyo HIT and the high-efficiency cells manufactured by the Sunpower Corp. of the United States. |
