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Topic · Electrical and Electronic Engineering

solar cell performance optimization

solar cell performance optimization is a research topic within Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Science Explorer counts 20k research works in it since 1951. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the advancements in multijunction solar cell technology, particularly in the context of concentrator photovoltaics. The research covers topics such as high efficiency, III-V compound semiconductors, metamorphic epitaxy, photon recycling, spectral beam splitting, electroluminescence measurements, radiation resistance, and energy conversion efficiency.

  • Multijunction Solar Cells
  • High Efficiency
  • Concentrator Photovoltaics
  • III-V Compound Semiconductors
  • Metamorphic Epitaxy
  • Photon Recycling
  • Spectral Beam Splitting
  • Electroluminescence Measurements
  • Radiation Resistance
  • Energy Conversion Efficiency
Research works
20k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+12%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
30% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
solar cell performance optimization

Which countries lead solar cell performance optimization research?

By volume, China and India publish the most (867 and 588 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 867 works
  2. 2 India 588 works
  3. 3 United States 472 works
  4. 4 Germany 167 works
  5. 5 Japan 152 works
  6. 6 Spain 131 works
  7. 7 South Korea 124 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 118 works
  9. 9 France 114 works
  10. 10 Italy 109 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 30.5%India: 20.7%United States: 16.6%Germany: 5.9%6 others listed: 26.4%30%largest
China867 · 30.5%India588 · 20.7%United States472 · 16.6%Germany167 · 5.9%6 others listed750 · 26.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead solar cell performance optimization research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most solar cell performance optimization research, followed by National Laboratory of the Rockies and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 54 works
  2. 2 National Laboratory of the RockiesUnited States 48 works
  3. 3 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 47 works
  4. 4 Fraunhofer-GesellschaftGermany 44 works
  5. 5 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 36 works
  6. 6 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 32 works
  7. 7 UNSW SydneyAustralia 29 works
  8. 8 Universidad Politécnica de MadridSpain 25 works
  9. 9 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 19 works
  10. 10 Sungkyunkwan UniversitySouth Korea 19 works

Who are the leading researchers in solar cell performance optimization?

The most-cited researchers publishing on solar cell performance optimization include Zhong Lin Wang, Michaël Grätzel and Wei Huang.

  1. 1 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  2. 2 Michaël Grätzel Switzerland 458k citations
  3. 3 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  4. 4 Yi Ping Cui United States 261k citations
  5. 5 Kenji Watanabe Japan 237k citations
  6. 6 Frede Blaabjerg Denmark 203k citations
  7. 7 Mercouri G. Kanatzidis United States 196k citations
  8. 8 Hua Zhang Singapore 196k citations
  9. 9 Seeram Ramakrishna Singapore 186k citations
  10. 10 Edward Hartley Sargent Canada 185k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in solar cell performance optimization?

The most cited paper in solar cell performance optimization is "Comparison of Photovoltaic Array Maximum Power Point Tracking Techniques" (Trishan Esram, Patrick Lyle Chapman, 2007), with 5,398 citations. Next come "Comprehensive Approach to Modeling and Simulation of Photovoltaic Arrays" (4,380) and "Optimization of Perturb and Observe Maximum Power Point Tracking Method" (2,975).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Comparison of Photovoltaic Array Maximum Power Point Tracking Techniques Trishan Esram, Patrick Lyle Chapman · IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion Jun 2007 5,398
2 Comprehensive Approach to Modeling and Simulation of Photovoltaic Arrays Marcelo Gradella Villalva, Jonas Rafael Gazoli, Ernesto Ruppert Filho · IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics 30 Mar 2009 4,380
3 Optimization of Perturb and Observe Maximum Power Point Tracking Method Nicola Femia, Giovanni Petrone, G. Spagnuolo et al. · IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics Jul 2005 2,975
4 On the temperature dependence of photovoltaic module electrical performance: A review of efficiency/power correlations E. Skoplaki, John A. Palyvos · Solar Energy Open access 5 Nov 2008 2,677
5 Solar cell efficiency tables (Version 45) Martin Andrew Green, Keith A. Emery, Yoshihiro Hishikawa et al. · Progress in Photovoltaics Research and Applications 20 Dec 2014 2,437
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is solar cell performance optimization research done?

The largest centres of solar cell performance optimization research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), Tokyo (Japan) and Golden (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Golden and Freiburg.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 158 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 60 works
  3. 3 TokyoJapan 55 works
  4. 4 GoldenUnited States 53 works
  5. 5 SeoulSouth Korea 53 works
  6. 6 NanjingChina 48 works
  7. 7 ChennaiIndia 47 works
  8. 8 FreiburgGermany 47 works
  9. 9 Xi'anChina 45 works
  10. 10 New DelhiIndia 45 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. GoldenUS · 53.2 works48×
  2. FreiburgDE · 47.0 works17×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in solar cell performance optimization than the world average.

See solar cell performance optimization on the map

Where is the best place to study solar cell performance optimization?

Among universities, judged by research, UNSW Sydney, University of Science and Technology of China and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 19.7%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Scienc…King Fahd University…King Abdullah Univer…UNSW Sydney
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1UNSW SydneyAustralia 77.719.9%8.2×29 -4.9%
2University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 69.124.2%3.2×15 +32.1%
3King Abdullah University of Science and TechnologySaudi Arabia 66.120.2%10.0×11 +59.8%
4King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsSaudi Arabia 65.823.8%6.2×8 +68.0%
5Politecnico di MilanoItaly 59.421.3%3.3×9 +43.5%
6Universidad Politécnica de MadridSpain 58.14.3%19.9×25 -6.1%
7Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 57.823.4%1.1×13 +78.0%
8King Saud UniversitySaudi Arabia 57.422.6%2.1×8 +82.3%
9Chouaib Doukkali UniversityMorocco 56.123.9%22.3×8 +34.7%
10North China Electric Power UniversityChina 54.813.4%6.3×17 +9.9%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in solar cell performance optimization, country by country

Is solar cell performance optimization research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 12% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are solar cell performance optimization.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is solar cell performance optimization as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.020% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%solar cell performance optimization0.019% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of solar cell performance optimization over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%solar cell performance optimization9.9% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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