Taiwan-developed organic photovoltaic solar power technology has been improving over the past years and now boasts one of the world's best efficiency ratings, National Central University said Wednesday.

Local researchers have developed a dye coded CYC-B11 for transparent dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC), said Wu Chun-guey, chairwoman of the school's Research Center for New Generation Photovoltaics.

DSSCs are relatively low-cost solar cells with a high level of efficiency.

The new heteroleptic ruthenium dye can boost the efficiency of converting the sun's light energy into direct-current electricity even further to over 11.5 percent, which Wu said is one of the best rates in the world.

"We have seen great potential in this," she said, adding that her school has already transferred the technology to a Japanese company.

Such technology can be applied to various fields, she said, citing green houses, automation and even smartphone chargers as examples.