Tuesday, July 02, 2013: We have long been hearing about researchers developing lost cost and high efficiency solar cells. However, a new research from MIT is working on the development of ultra thin, lightweight solar cells, which is expected to change the face of the solar industry.
The study was published in the Nano Letters journal, which talks about solar cells in work that have the capacity to surpass any substance, besides reactor-grade uranium, with respect to the energy produced per pound of material. Researchers say that these cells can be created by using stacked sheets of one-molecule-thick materials like graphene.
According to the senior author of the study, Jeffrey Grossman said, “The new approach is a push towards the ultimate power conversion possible from a material. Just using a single bi-layer of two-dimensional materials would make it possible to create solar cells with efficiencies of 1 to 2 per cent, which, given the greatly reduced time and resources required for construction, becomes all the more appealing compared to conventional technologies.”
Lead author, Marco Bernardi, a postdoc in MIT’s Department of Materials Science said, “Stacking a few layers could allow for higher efficiency, one that competes with other well-established solar cell technologies.”
The study claims that the new solar cells can generate up to 1,000 times more power than regular photovoltaics cells and are also about 20 to 50 times thinner than the thinnest solar cell. And it is much less expensive that other raw materials.
Electronics Bazaar, South Asia’s No.1 Electronics B2B magazine
