{"id":11206,"date":"2022-01-20T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/?p=11206"},"modified":"2021-07-20T19:17:09","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T03:17:09","slug":"technology-improving-solar-cell-efficiency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/formtek.com\/blog\/technology-improving-solar-cell-efficiency\/","title":{"rendered":"Technology: Improving Solar Cell Efficiency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Recent research suggests that new materials and designs could lead to dramatic increases in solar cell efficiency. Researchers are closing in on 50 percent solar cell efficiency<\/a> and new materials and manufacturing techniques may be able to increase that further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One new material being investigated is called perovskite. <\/a> It is a crystal and has been known about for some time but only researched extensively until recently. What is unique about perovskite, compared to standard silicon solar cells, is that the crystal is able to absorb different frequencies of the light spectrum than silicon does and, when used in combination, silicon and perovskite solar cells have much greater energy creation efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nitin Padture<\/a>, a professor of engineering at Brown University, said that <\/a>“there have been great strides in increasing the power-conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells. But the final hurdle to be cleared before the technology can be widely available is reliability \u2014 making cells that maintain their performance over time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2021, the US Department of Energy announced $40 million of grants into more research in the use of perovskite in the manufacture of solar cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick Rolston<\/a>, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, said that<\/a> “perovskite solar technology is at a crossroads between commercialization and flimflammery. Millions of dollars are being poured into startups. But I strongly believe that in the next three years, if there isn\u2019t a breakthrough that extends cell lifetimes, that money will start to dry up.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experiments at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU)<\/a> suggest that solar cell efficiency could be increased by creating a superlattice of alternating thin layers of crystal. The experiment used a new types of ferroelectric materials, barium titanate, and found that they could increase the photovoltaic effect of ferroelectric crystals by a factor of 1000 using their approach of alternating layers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Recent research suggests that new materials and designs could lead to dramatic increases in solar cell efficiency. Researchers are closing in on 50 percent solar cell efficiency and new materials and manufacturing techniques may be able to increase that further.…<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more ›<\/a><\/div>\n

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