• Scientists achieve record efficiency for

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Tue Mar 29 22:30:38 2022
    Scientists achieve record efficiency for ultra-thin solar panels

    Date:
    March 29, 2022
    Source:
    University of Surrey
    Summary:
    A team has successfully increased the levels of energy absorbed
    by wafer- thin photovoltaic panels by 25%. Their solar panels,
    just one micrometer thick, convert light into electricity more
    efficiently than others as thin and pave the way to make it easier
    to general more clean, green energy.



    FULL STORY ==========================================================================
    A team co-led team by the University of Surrey has successfully increased
    the levels of energy absorbed by wafer-thin photovoltaic panels by
    25%. Their solar panels, just one micrometre thick (1mm), convert light
    into electricity more efficiently than others as thin and pave the way
    to make it easier to general more clean, green energy.


    ==========================================================================
    In a paper published in the American Chemical Society's Photonics journal,
    the team detail how they used characteristics of sunlight to design a disordered honeycomb layer which lies on top of a wafer of silicon. Their approach is echoed in nature in the design of butterfly wings and bird
    eyes. The innovative honeycomb design enables light absorption from any
    angle and traps light inside the solar cell, enabling more energy to
    be generated.

    Dr Marian Florescu from the University of Surrey's Advanced Technology Institute (ATI) said, "One of the challenges of working with silicon
    is that nearly a third of light bounces straight off it without being
    absorbed and the energy harnessed. A textured layer across the silicon
    helps tackle this and our disordered, yet hyperuniform, honeycomb
    design is particularly successful." The team of researchers from the University of Surrey and Imperial College London worked with experimental collaborators at AMOLF in Amsterdam to design, model and create the new ultra-thin photovoltaic.

    In the laboratory, they achieved absorption rates of 26.3 mA/cm2, a 25% increase on the previous record of 19.72 mA/cm2 achieved in 2017. They
    secured an efficiency of 21% but anticipate that further improvements will
    push the figure higher, resulting in efficiencies that are significantly
    better than many commercially available photovoltaics.

    Dr Florescu continued, "There's enormous potential for using ultra-thin photovoltaics. For example, given how light they are, they will
    be particularly useful in space and could make new extra-terrestrial
    projects viable. Since they use so much less silicon, we are hoping
    there will be cost savings here on Earth as well, plus there could be
    potential to bring more benefits from the Internet of Things and to
    create zero-energy buildings powered locally." As well as benefiting
    solar power generation, the findings could also benefit other industries
    where light management and surface engineering are crucial, for example, photo-electrochemistry, solid-state light emission and photodetectors.

    Next steps for the team will include investigating commercial partners
    and developing manufacturing techniques.


    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Surrey. Note: Content
    may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Nasim Tavakoli, Richard Spalding, Alexander Lambertz, Pepijn
    Koppejan,
    Georgios Gkantzounis, Chenglong Wan, Ruslan Ro"hrich, Evgenia
    Kontoleta, A. Femius Koenderink, Riccardo Sapienza, Marian Florescu,
    Esther Alarcon- Llado. Over 65% Sunlight Absorption in a 1 mm
    Si Slab with Hyperuniform Texture. ACS Photonics, 2022; DOI:
    10.1021/acsphotonics.1c01668 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220329114735.htm

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