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##Why has traditional solar cell improvement become stagnant?

Bounty:

• 400 rep (for new users)
• 200 rep (for existing users)

There is an answer, saying basically that traditional m-J solar cells are already near their optimal efficiency from a consumer-desire point of view, and improving them further is not worth it, especially when taking into account their very high cost, and the emergence of perovskite-based solar cells. I upvoted the answer, but it doesn't seem to come from an authoritative source or expert in the research area of improving m-J photovoltaics, and there is no reference to the science behind why it's not worth it to further pursue to the field.

Furthermore, NREL skipped 5J cells completely and started studying 6J, seemingly much before exhaustively exploring the capabilities of 4J, which doesn't make sense to me, and I'd like to know why this might have been the case. I am curious about the scientific obstacles, more so than the economic atmosphere at play (though I do appreciate both aspects).

Please warn me in advance if you are going to go for this bounty!

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Why has traditional solar cell improvement become stagnant?

Bounty:

• 400 rep (for new users)
• 200 rep (for existing users)

There is an answer, saying basically that traditional m-J solar cells are already near their optimal efficiency from a consumer-desire point of view, and improving them further is not worth it, especially when taking into account their very high cost, and the emergence of perovskite-based solar cells. I upvoted the answer, but it doesn't seem to come from an authoritative source or expert in the research area of improving m-J photovoltaics, and there is no reference to the science behind why it's not worth it to further pursue to the field.

Furthermore, NREL skipped 5J cells completely and started studying 6J, seemingly much before exhaustively exploring the capabilities of 4J, which doesn't make sense to me, and I'd like to know why this might have been the case. I am curious about the scientific obstacles, more so than the economic atmosphere at play (though I do appreciate both aspects).

Please warn me in advance if you are going to go for this bounty!

Return to Table of Contents

##Why has traditional solar cell improvement become stagnant?

Bounty:

• 400 rep (for new users)
• 200 rep (for existing users)

There is an answer, saying basically that traditional m-J solar cells are already near their optimal efficiency from a consumer-desire point of view, and improving them further is not worth it, especially when taking into account their very high cost, and the emergence of perovskite-based solar cells. I upvoted the answer, but it doesn't seem to come from an authoritative source or expert in the research area of improving m-J photovoltaics, and there is no reference to the science behind why it's not worth it to further pursue to the field.

Furthermore, NREL skipped 5J cells completely and started studying 6J, seemingly much before exhaustively exploring the capabilities of 4J, which doesn't make sense to me, and I'd like to know why this might have been the case. I am curious about the scientific obstacles, more so than the economic atmosphere at play (though I do appreciate both aspects).

Please warn me in advance if you are going to go for this bounty!

##Why has traditional solar cell improvement become stagnant?

Bounty:

• 400 rep (for new users)
• 200 rep (for existing users)

There is an answer, saying basically that traditional m-J solar cells are already near their optimal efficiency from a consumer-desire point of view, and improving them further is not worth it, especially when taking into account their very high cost, and the emergence of perovskite-based solar cells. I upvoted the answer, but it doesn't seem to come from an authoritative source or expert in the research area of improving m-J photovoltaics, and there is no reference to the science behind why it's not worth it to further pursue to the field.

Furthermore, NREL skipped 5J cells completely and started studying 6J, seemingly much before exhaustively exploring the capabilities of 4J, which doesn't make sense to me, and I'd like to know why this might have been the case. I am curious about the scientific obstacles, more so than the economic atmosphere at play (though I do appreciate both aspects).

Please warn me in advance if you are going to go for this bounty!

Return to Table of Contents

##Why has traditional solar cell improvement become stagnant?

Bounty:

• 400 rep (for new users)
• 200 rep (for existing users)

There is an answer, saying basically that traditional m-J solar cells are already near their optimal efficiency from a consumer-desire point of view, and improving them further is not worth it, especially when taking into account their very high cost, and the emergence of perovskite-based solar cells. I upvoted the answer, but it doesn't seem to come from an authoritative source or expert in the research area of improving m-J photovoltaics, and there is no reference to the science behind why it's not worth it to further pursue to the field.

Furthermore, NREL skipped 5J cells completely and started studying 6J, seemingly much before exhaustively exploring the capabilities of 4J, which doesn't make sense to me, and I'd like to know why this might have been the case. I am curious about the scientific obstacles, more so than the economic atmosphere at play (though I do appreciate both aspects).

##Why has traditional solar cell improvement become stagnant?

Bounty:

• 400 rep (for new users)
• 200 rep (for existing users)

There is an answer, saying basically that traditional m-J solar cells are already near their optimal efficiency from a consumer-desire point of view, and improving them further is not worth it, especially when taking into account their very high cost, and the emergence of perovskite-based solar cells. I upvoted the answer, but it doesn't seem to come from an authoritative source or expert in the research area of improving m-J photovoltaics, and there is no reference to the science behind why it's not worth it to further pursue to the field.

Furthermore, NREL skipped 5J cells completely and started studying 6J, seemingly much before exhaustively exploring the capabilities of 4J, which doesn't make sense to me, and I'd like to know why this might have been the case. I am curious about the scientific obstacles, more so than the economic atmosphere at play (though I do appreciate both aspects).

Please warn me in advance if you are going to go for this bounty!