New flexible and lightweight solar cell developed

[GoFlyKiteNow]

New flexible and lightweight solar cell developed by scientists
February 16th, 2010 - 4:40 pm

Sydney, Feb 16 (ANI):

Reports indicate that scientists in the US have developed a new flexible and lightweight solar cell, which uses a fraction the amount of silicon used in conventional cells, while still achieving high light conversion rates.

According to a report in ABC science, the new solar cell design has been developed by Materials Professor Harry Atwater of the Caltech, along with his colleagues.

The team believes that their new design could be used in applications ranging from car sun roofs to devices in clothing.

The key is to the cells high efficiency is its use of small micrometre sized rods of silicon instead of traditional silicon wafers.

Incoming light bounces back and forth multiple times between the rods in the panel until it’s absorbed.

Small alumina nano-particle reflectors are placed between the rods to ensure the light is guided as efficiently as possible.

The scientists claim that up to 85 percent of usable sunlight is absorbed by the new panels, compared to approximately 17 percent efficiency with current commerically available solar cells.

The silicon wire arrays offer a mechanically flexible alternative to conventional silicon wafer photovoltaics, and are much better at absorping in the near-infrared spectrum, according to Atwater.

This allows overall sunlight absorption to exceed that of an equivalent volume of randomly textured silicon panels over a wide range of sunlight angles.

According to Professor Martin Green of the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at the University of New South Wales, “The good absorption demonstrated using the sparse array of silicon wires is interesting.”

“The challenge with silicon wires has been getting good voltage output, because surface areas are large and this ultimately limits voltage,” said Green.

“However, the sparse array’s total surface area need not be a lot more than a thin conventional cell of the same volume, and that gives some hope here,” he added. (ANI)

 

[besotted]

wah lau, old news lah

China is at the forefront of battery technology and Xi'an University already have this

Look at Warren Buffett desperately trying to invest in BYD but BYD gave him much less than he wanted

 

[GoFlyKiteNow]

wah lau, old news lah

China is at the forefront of battery technology and Xi'an University already have this

Look at Warren Buffett desperately trying to invest in BYD but BYD gave him much less than he wanted

You have absolutely no idea about what is going on in solar tech.
Be sure brain in engaged before putting mouth in gear.

 

[Sperminator]

New flexible and lightweight solar cell developed by scientists
.....
The scientists claim that up to 85 percent of usable sunlight is absorbed by the new panels, compared to approximately 17 percent efficiency with current commerically available solar cells.

The silicon wire arrays offer a mechanically flexible alternative to conventional silicon wafer photovoltaics, and are much better at absorping in the near-infrared spectrum, according to Atwater.

This allows overall sunlight absorption to exceed that of an equivalent volume of randomly textured silicon panels over a wide range of sunlight angles.

According to Professor Martin Green of the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at the University of New South Wales, “The good absorption demonstrated using the sparse array of silicon wires is interesting.”

“The challenge with silicon wires has been getting good voltage output, because surface areas are large and this ultimately limits voltage,” said Green.

“However, the sparse array’s total surface area need not be a lot more than a thin conventional cell of the same volume, and that gives some hope here,” he added. (ANI)

Wow! 85% efficiency conversion! That's truly amazing!

Now the challenge is how to reduce the cost of production for Global Production...

Great news is that Silicon, which is a derivative product from Silica or SAND is in abundance in the world...

And there are over production capacity for global demand in China currently for the raw materials for Solar Cells (for older technology) much lesser than 20% efficiency conversion rate.

If what the scientist article is true, I foresee that in future buildings, the windows could be installed with such panels for all buildings... making the cities with a darkish shiny image....

And perhaps the entire building could be enveloped with such panels.

And batteries with large capacities to store the excess electricity for night consumption....

The SUN is still the best natural source of Energy, no life is possible without the SUN... in fact all petroleum products are indirectly SOLAR powered.

The GREEN REVOLUTION is happening.

Let's hope that the OIL CARTELS don't curb this great technology...

 

[GoFlyKiteNow]

Wow! 85% efficiency conversion! That's truly amazing!

Now the challenge is how to reduce the cost of production for Global Production...

Let's hope that the OIL CARTELS don't curb this great technology...

Carpet of silicon whiskers could make solar cells cheaper

Reports indicate that a new solar-cell design based on a carpet of silicon rods could produce electricity at a fraction of the cost of conventional solar devices. According to a report in Nature News, the carpets have yet to be made into a working solar cell, but preliminary measurements of their ability to absorb light and generate current suggest they could become a cheap replacement for existing technology.

The idea behind photovoltaic solar cells is that when sunlight strikes a material, it dislodges electrons, which start to flow in one direction. The electrons leave behind empty, positively-charged ‘holes’ that move the other way, effectively creating a current. It’s a simple idea, but it isn’t cheap. The material of choice for cells is often thin silicon wafers, which are efficient at absorbing light but expensive to produce.

Now, Harry Atwater and his colleagues at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena have found an alternative that uses one hundredth of the material of current silicon technology.

Using a well-established technique for assembling nanowires on a surface, the researchers grew a ‘carpet’ of micrometre-scale silicon rods lined up like hairs standing on end. They then embedded the rods in a transparent polymer. This configuration alone is not enough to absorb light efficiently.

Although the array can absorb light coming in at shallow angles, light beating down from directly overhead tends to pass between the rods and is lost. “Not being able to absorb light at noon isn’t a great property for a solar cell,” said Atwater. To solve this problem, the team sprinkled aluminium oxide particles into the transparent polymer.

These particles scatter incoming light so that it bounces around inside the array, increasing the light’s chances of striking a silicon wire. “As a result, up to 85 percent of usable incident sunlight can be absorbed effectively,” said Atwater. Atwater is pleasantly surprised to find that the silicon carpet outperforms conventional wafers at absorbing infrared frequencies.

According to him, the result flies in the face of the “established dogma” that the most highly absorbing surface is a roughly textured wafer. “We’ve broken through what people thought was the absorption limit,” he said.

“The fundamental issue with all solar cells is that they are too expensive, and reducing the material and the cost, but keeping the efficiency, has been the main thrust of research in this field,” said physicist Ken Durose, an expert on solar cells at Durham University, UK.
.

 

[besotted]

world's largest photo voltaic plant is in Inner Mongolia

 

[besotted]

Inner Mongolia is in China, for the info of all those below 30 years old

 

[longbow]

Agreed, 85% is fantastic. But much on it depends on production cost and pollutive aspect in manufacturing process and disposal.

Wow! 85% efficiency conversion! That's truly amazing!

Now the challenge is how to reduce the cost of production for Global Production...

Great news is that Silicon, which is a derivative product from Silica or SAND is in abundance in the world...

And there are over production capacity for global demand in China currently for the raw materials for Solar Cells (for older technology) much lesser than 20% efficiency conversion rate.

If what the scientist article is true, I foresee that in future buildings, the windows could be installed with such panels for all buildings... making the cities with a darkish shiny image....

And perhaps the entire building could be enveloped with such panels.

And batteries with large capacities to store the excess electricity for night consumption....

The SUN is still the best natural source of Energy, no life is possible without the SUN... in fact all petroleum products are indirectly SOLAR powered.

The GREEN REVOLUTION is happening.

Let's hope that the OIL CARTELS don't curb this great technology...

 

[hahaho]

world's largest photo voltaic plant is in Inner Mongolia

Largest does not mean latest, best, efficient, finest..........
Big Size not equal to quality.

 

[zuoom]

unreal. never know solar cell can be so effective/efficient. always thought it's around the single digit range.

hard to imagine 85%. that's going to change the world.