Solar Cell Innovation Achieved at ASU

By using unusual types of materials and innovative arrangements, investigators at the Arizona State University (ASU) were recently able to set the basis of a new solar cell design. The experts behind this work say that their new solar cells will soon exceed the performances of any other.

Electrical engineering PhD student Derek Caselli and ASU School of Electrical, Computing and Energy Engineering professor Cun-Zheng Ning are the scientists behind this innovative design.

At this point, the technology still needs to be further refined, but the path on which this research has taken the team is very promising. The team is now able to reveal that their approach is heavily on breaking down light entering the solar cells into its basic colors.

Each of these wavelengths is then processed individually, and electrons obtained from each of them. At this point, commercial solar cells can convert only about 18 percent of the sunlight hitting them. The maximum conversion efficiency of silicon-based solar cells is 31 percent.