BEIJING -- A Chinese research team has recently achieved a breakthrough in the performance of a new thin-film photovoltaic technology, raising the certified efficiency to 16.6 percent, marking a critical step toward industrialization, said the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, on Wednesday.

As global energy transition accelerates and deep-space exploration and space infrastructure development make progress, major projects such as low-orbit satellite internet and space-based energy facilities are imposing core requirements on solar technology like low cost, long lifespan, lightweight design, and sustainable resource utilization.

The research team from the Institute of Physics, led by Meng Qingbo, has focused on the development of CZTSSe photovoltaic, which is composed of common elements such as copper, zinc and tin.

The CZTSSe photovoltaic offers advantages including abundant resources, low cost, environmental friendliness, and resistance to space radiation. It is expected to play a significant role in future large-scale energy applications both on Earth and in space.

The team has tackled key challenges, including material crystallization, atomic structure and defect control. They developed an atomic vacancy strategy to guide the orderly positioning of copper and zinc atoms, fundamentally reducing defect activity and internal energy losses.

Based on the progress, the team also developed the high-performance flexible cells and modules. The current 16.6 percent efficiency of CZTSSe cells already provides a foundation for industrialization.

The team said that once cell efficiency approaches 20 percent and module efficiency reaches 18 percent, enabling mass production, the technology will become market-competitive and is expected to be widely applied in aerospace equipment and other scenarios.