New Solar Cells Reach 40% Efficiency

eldavojohn writes: "A subsidiary of Boeing has created a photovoltaic device at 40% efficiency which surpasses current solar cell capabilities (which held a theoretical 37% limit). The article notes that current technologies focus on a single range of photons with single-junction silicon cells that are specific to our sun. The team that developed this new technology experimented both with expanding the range of sunlight wavelengths harnessed and utilizing "concentrator multijunction solar cells that use high intensities of sunlight, the equivalent of 100s of suns, concentrated by lenses or mirrors." Their research paper is available from the Journal of Applied Physics Letters. The best part is that the team predicts they can push this to 58% efficiency."