Wenzhu Liu

Wenzhu Liu has been committed to the research of high-efficiency amorphous silicon/monocrystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells. He led the invention of a fabrication technology for flexible monocrystalline silicon solar cells, achieving cells as flexible as A4 paper. He innovatively proposed a mesoscale symmetry design scheme, achieving a minimum bending radius of approximately 4 mm for industrial-sized monocrystalline silicon wafers and a maximum bending angle of over 360 degrees for a single cell​.

The disadvantage of monocrystalline silicon solar cells is that they are brittle and fragile in mechanics. Wenzhu took the lead in successfully developing industrial-sized high-efficiency flexible monocrystalline silicon solar cells. After 1,000 "edge-to-edge" foldings, the cell efficiency remains unchanged, achieving a significant improvement in mechanical toughness and shock resistance​.

This technology has driven flexible photovoltaics to become a hotspot for energy applications, with universal application value in many fields such as low-orbit satellites, high-altitude aircraft, photovoltaic building integration, vehicle-mounted photovoltaics, robot sensing, and wearable electronics. Currently, this type of cell has been successfully applied to multiple high-altitude aircraft models in China, setting several long-endurance flight records, making significant contributions to national strategic applications. It has been used in China's Antarctic scientific expeditions (35th, 36th, and 38th) renewable energy systems, being named the "Highlight of the 35th Antarctic Expedition Work," and is planned for future low-orbit satellite platforms​.

In terms of revealing the physical origins behind the impact of illumination on silicon solar cell performance, Wenzhu was the first to discover the anomalous Staebler-Wronski effect internationally. Currently, this photoelectric effect has been applied to all silicon heterojunction solar cell production companies, increasing production line efficiency by an average of 0.3-0.5%, becoming a key technology for improving cell efficiency.