Perovskite boosts solar cells by 50 percent http://goo.gl/vcKzEB - SciTech News - #RenewableEnergy
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Perovskite boosts solar cells by 50 percent
Once again advances in science has created a material that boosts solar cells by 50%. The new material goes by the name of perovskite.
Perovskites are materials with a particular crystalline structure.
Perovskites created by the Stanford team contains relatively abundant and cheap materials including ammonia, iodine, and lead.
By putting the photovoltaic material on top of a conventional solar cell can boost overall power output by 50 percent. The researchers at Stanford University added perovskite to a standard silicon solar cell. This validated the idea of a cheaper alternative that also increased the efficiency of solar power. Amazingly this was first proposed several years ago.
The scientists started demonstrating the photovoltaic potential of perovskites in 2009. This lead to different research groups to create perovskites with photovoltaic efficiencies which are, comparable to those of many commercial solar cells. Perovskites was found to convert certain parts of the solar spectrum into electricity. It was found to be more efficient than silicon, so the biggest efficiency gain made by the perovskites is to increase efficiency, rather than replace the standard silicon in many of the solar cells (For a more detailed understanding: “A Material that Could Make Solar Power ‘Dirt Cheap’ and/or “What’s Tech is Next for the Solar Industry?”).
During the scientific process, the researchers had a couple of challenges one being the pairing of the silicon and perovskite. The second challenge was to make the material transparent so that the light can be absorbed by the solar cell beneath. So they made the perovskite transparent with an electrode made of silicon nanowires
So the Stamford University Researchers, took a cheap silicon solar cell with an efficiency of 11.4 percent then added the perovskite cell and increased it to 17 percent. This is quite and amazing development in the solar sector and a leap in the right direction.
At this time though the Perovskite is not ready for market due to the following reasons:
Tests still need to be completed to establish how the light interacts with the 2 materials
How long each panel will last
At the moment they do not very long
Currently they contain lead which as you know is toxic, so researchers as looking at other materials to replace the lead.
When researchers finish testing Perovskite will be a massive boost to the solar and renewable energy sectors. They believe that perovskite-silicon cells should convert over 30 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity. This would cut the number of solar panels needed for some installations by almost by half, this would greatly decrease the installation costs. Lets hope they bring this fantastic material to market soon.
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