We all talk about solar power and the efficiency that it brings along with it, besides a plethora of other benefits. These solar cells become all the more relevant as we are exhausting our traditional energy resources at a pretty fast pace.
We recently reported how solar power is actually proving uneconomical to the industries in India, despite the ‘cost efficiency’ flak that comes with it. Well, one thing is for sure that current solar cells are not much efficient and are costly for solar cells manufacturers. Considering the issue, scientists at Empa’s Laboratory for Thin Filsm and Photovoltaic, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology, have created thin film solar cells that will supposedly banish these limitations.
Reportedly, these new solar cells have a record 20.4 per cent energy conversion efficiency, which beats the previous record of 18.7 per cent. Ayaodhya N. Tiwari, the leader of the team, along with two PhD students, was able to modify the properties of CGIS layer that absorbs light and generate photo-current in solar cells. These new solar cells have also exceeded the highest efficiency mark for poly-crystalline silicon wafer-based solar cells, reports CrazyEngineers.
Moreover, Ayaodhya feels that they will lead the future of low cost, high efficiency solar power.