one revolutionary advancement for solar cells: cheaper solar cell by Caltech promises to double efficiency
There's one revolutionary advancement for the development of solar energy. Caltech (California Institute of Technology) researchers claim they have developed a solar cell that is twice as efficient as conventional solar wafers and that could be much cheaper to make.
Using silicon-wire arrays, Caltech researchers claim they can trap up to 96 percent of incident sunlight at a single wavelength and up to 85 per cent of the collectible sunlight, then convert between 90 and 100 percent of it into electrons, aka electricity, surpassing previous optical microstructures developed to trap light. As we know conventional photovoltaic (PV) cells convert about 40% of the sunlight they absorb into electricity.
Each wire measures between 30 and 100 microns in length. And only 1 micron in diameter. "The entire thickness of the silicon-wire array is the length of the wire, but in terms of area or volume, just 2 percent of it is silicon, and 98 percent is polymer." says Professor Atwater.
We all know, silicon is an expensive component in the conventional solar cell, this technology by Caltech using about 1/50 of the amount will mean solar cells would be much much cheaper. And the flexibility of this kind of solar cells will also reduce price as flexible thin films can be manufactured in a roll-to-roll process, an inherently lower-cost process than the manufacture of rigid, traditional solar cells.
This new type of flexible solar cell is one revolutionary advancement for solar cells, solar energy, even for total green energy.
