Shockley–Queisser triangle predicts the thermodynamic efficiency limits of arbitrarily complex multijunction bifacial solar cells

Significance A solar cell converts sunlight directly to electricity and is an important source of renewable energy. The thermodynamic efficiency of a solar cell defines the ultimate limit of photoconversion and suggests strategies to achieve it. Recent progress in manufacturing, efficiency, and reliability has led to an astounding proliferation of the fixed-tilt single-junction PV technologies. The progress can be accelerated by a variety of innovative strategies (e.g., bifacial tandems, agro-PV, etc.). In a simple, single-line scaling formula, this paper unifies isolated and scattered results derived over the last 50 years and generalizes them to technologies whose thermodynamic limits are unknown. This work identifies promising concepts and their performance gain over traditional technologies.