Energy efficiency matters when cells work in groups

Sep 14, 2015 15:24 GMT  ·  By

It seems that scientists at the University of Maryland, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, led by research scientist Jeremy Munday have developed a new type of nanoscale solar cells that outperform traditional solar panels and reach 40 percent better power conversion levels than current technology.

Normally, solar cells work through the conversion of sunlight into electricity using photovoltaics, by which solar energy is converted straight into direct current. The photovoltaic system uses several solar panels that each holds a number of solar cells. In the end, everything is combined to create a system for the supply of usable solar power.

After examining the Shockley-Queisser limit of each photosensitive material in capturing light and later on converting it into electricity, it was concluded that most of today's materials have a conversion efficiency limit of 33 per cent, which means they can convert into usable power about a third of the energy they collect. The same Shockley-Queisser is generally used to compare all sorts of candidate materials for power generation usage.

Nanostructured solar cells are better

However, when scientists looked much closer to observe how the light photons react with the material, a more efficient method of converting light into electricity has been found.

This way, the scientists managed to produce a single-junction of nanostructured solar cells that has an efficiency rating of 42 percent. Compared to the standard 33 percent, it doesn't really seem much, but when it comes to power utilization, it's very important.

Why is it important? Because it allows cells to be much smaller than before, and therefore, more cells can be crammed into one panel, and thus, one panel will convert an overall higher amount of light into electricity.

However, according to the report published in Nature magazine, this new development will be problematic since nanofabrication isn't easy to mass produce.

Classic cell concentrator vs Nanostructures
Classic cell concentrator vs Nanostructures

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The new solar pannels will cram more solar cells
Classic cell concentrator vs Nanostructures
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