Solar Energy
Solar energy breakthrough
I
nstead, their innovation works by coating a new power-generating material onto the surfaces of everyday objects such as rucksacks, cars, and mobile phones.
Their new light-absorbing material is, for the first time, thin and flexible enough to apply to the surface of almost any building or common object. Using a pioneering technique developed in Oxford, which stacks multiple light-absorbing layers into one solar cell, they have harnessed a wider range of the light spectrum, allowing more power to be generated from the same amount of sunlight. This ultra-thin material, using this so-called multi-junction approach, has now been independently certified to deliver over 27% energy efficiency, for the first time matching the performance of traditional, single-layer, energy-generating materials known as silicon photovoltaics. Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), gave its certification prior to publication of the researchers’ scientific study later this year. “During just five years experimenting with our stacking or multi-junction approach we have raised power conversion efficiency from around 6% to over 27%, close to the limits of what single- layer photovoltaics can achieve today,” said Dr Shuaifeng Hu, Post Doctoral Fellow at Oxford University Physics. “We believe that, over time,
breakthrough could reduce need for solar farms
Scientists at Oxford University Physics Department have developed a revolutionary approach which could generate increasing amounts of solar electricity without the need for silicon-based solar panels.
“The
innovations...demonstrated in our labs could become a platform for a new industry, manufacturing materials to generate solar energy more sustainably and cheaply by using existing buildings, vehicles and objects.”
this approach could enable the photovoltaic devices to achieve far greater efficiencies, exceeding 45%.”
This compares with around 22% energy efficiency from solar panels today (meaning they convert around 22% of the energy in sunlight), but the versatility of the new ultra-thin and flexible material is also key. At just over one micron thick, it is almost 150 times thinner than a silicon wafer. Unlike existing photovoltaics, generally applied to silicon panels, this can be applied to almost any surface.
“By using new materials which can be applied as a coating, we’ve shown we can replicate and out-perform silicon whilst also gaining flexibility. This is important because it promises more solar power without the need for so many silicon- based panels or specially-built solar farms,” said Dr Junke Wang, Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions
Dr Shuaifeng Hu, Post Doctoral Fellow at Oxford University Physics, examining the new thin-film perovskite material.
Postdoc Fellow at Oxford University Physics. The latest innovations in solar materials and techniques demonstrated in our labs could become a platform for a new industry, manufacturing materials to generate solar energy
26 | electrical wholesalerOctober 2024
ewnews.co.uk
Image credit: Martin Small
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