A new method for making solar cells, with the help of specially prepared materials in architecture called nanocomposites, could greatly improve their efficiency.
(Image: Photo by Mario Tama / Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – SEPTEMBER 05: Solar panels have been erected at the top of the Los Angeles Convention Center on September 5, 2018, in Los Angeles, California. The solar range of 6,228 panels is expected to generate 3.4 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. California Governor Jerry Brown can sign a landmark bill promising the state 100 percent clean energy by 2045.
Using anomalies in PV materials
An international research team, led by members of Martin Luther Halle-Wittenberg University (MLU), reports their findings in the journal Nano Letters. Because conventional solar cells are made of silicon, a semi-solid material, “it is impossible to say that their efficiency can be increased indefinitely,” according to Dr. Akash Bhatnagar of the SiLi Center for Innovation Capability -nano “at MLU. His team has been working on a phenomenon known as the “irregular photovoltaic effect,” which has something to do with the ability of some light materials to convert to potential difference.
SITE MORE: Rock star material could be a cheaper option for solar cells
This irregular photovoltaic effect occurs in the absence of a pn junction, which is a region of advanced and negatively charged silicon that allows electricity to flow in the material. The differentiation of the asymmetric crystal structures at atomic levels for each side of the junction usually controls the direction in which electricity flows. Oxygen is usually used for this knot, which is advantageous in that they are lighter and more cost-effective as well as more durable. However, the ability to absorb sunlight and the power of natural electricity adversely affects their effectiveness as photovoltaic materials.
“To use these materials and their impact requires a creative cell architecture that reinforces the advantages and compensates for the disadvantages,” said lead author Lutz Mühlenbein.
Nanocomposite Architecture
Researchers used a new cell architecture called nanocomposites to work around these constraints, along with colleagues from Bergakademie Freibergin Saxony and the Leibniz Institute for Surface Change in Leipzig, both in Germany, and Banaras Hindu University in the United States. India.
Researchers would stack thin, single layers of standard material in their experiments – each cover just a few nanometers thick – and stack them one after the other. They then make off each coating that runs in one direction with layers of nickel oxide strips running directly from the original material. Bhatnagar explains that the strips act as a “fast layer” for the electricity generated when sunlight is converted to electricity and designed. As a result, the current reaches the electricity in the solar cells even faster. The carried electricity passes through the rectangular strips, according to the researchers, avoiding the resistance of individual electrons if they pass over each individual layer without the nickel strips. oxide.
With their new nanocomposite-based architecture, researchers found that solar cells had five times the altered electrical output compared to their traditional architecture.
“The material creates this desired structure on its own. Real external conditions are not required to bring it into this state,” Mühlenbein explains. In addition, researchers also included a feasibility study that strongly suggests how the architecture of the novel might be applied to other materials for the strips. “Quick series” in addition to the nickel oxide they used. They also suggested that further studies examine the feasibility of using the same technology for solar cells at an industrial level.
RELATED ARTICLE: Ultrathin Silicon Nanoantennas can slow down and redirect light
Check out more news and information about Nanoblocks on Science Times.