Perovskite Solar Cells Hit 27.87% Efficiency As Oxford PV Ships First Commercial Tandem Modules

A Chinese solar company’s just set a new world record. SolaEon, based in Shenzhen, China, has achieved 27.87% power conversion efficiency for a single-junction perovskite solar cell. China’s National Photovoltaic Industry Metrology and Testing Center, known as NPVM, certified the result. It’s the highest efficiency ever recorded for this type of solar cell.

The device also reached a fill factor of 87.61%. Fill factor measures how well a solar cell converts available energy into actual power. A higher number means better performance. The cell’s active area measures just 0.076 square centimeters, which means it’s a lab-scale device, not a commercial product.

This result beats the previous record of around 27.3%, which was certified by NREL in 2025. It also edges out silicon heterostructure cells, which have reached 27.6% efficiency. Some reports say this makes it potentially the first single-junction perovskite cell to outperform leading single-junction silicon cells in lab testing. The theoretical efficiency limit for single-junction perovskites sits at around 31-33% based on typical bandgap, so there’s still room to improve.

SolaEon hasn’t just been working on small lab cells. The company certified a large 1.2-meter by 0.6-meter module at 20.7% efficiency over 0.72 square meters in June 2025. That module produced 149 watts. By September 2025, the company pushed a module of the same size to 25.27% stabilized efficiency. These results show progress at larger scales too.

Despite the exciting numbers, big challenges remain. Scaling up from a tiny lab cell to a full-sized commercial product is hard. Stability over time and keeping performance consistent across large areas are still major problems for perovskite technology. None of these results are commercial products yet.

Perovskite solar cells have improved rapidly over the past 15 years. Their materials are flexible and easier to process than silicon. SolaEon has reportedly reported progress in all-perovskite tandem devices exceeding 31% efficiency. Researchers and companies are still working to close the gap between lab records and real-world solar panels that everyday people can use. In June 2025, a perovskite module surpassed 20% full-area efficiency, marking one of the first times the technology crossed that threshold at commercial scale. The same certified module measured 21.88% efficiency over its 0.64 square meter illuminated area, demonstrating that performance figures can vary depending on how the active region is defined. For context, today’s monocrystalline silicon panels achieve 20-22% efficiency, meaning perovskite technology at commercial scale is beginning to match the industry’s current best mainstream option.

✅ Claims in this article were verified using AI-assisted fact-checking.