Skip to main content

Bumpy nanoparticles improve the efficiency of thin-film solar cells

By


Researchers from Australia's Swinburne University of Technology - along with colleagues from Suntech Power Holdings - have announced the development of the world's most efficient broadband nanoplasmonic solar cells. The scientists improved the performance of existing thin-film cells by incorporating nucleated or "bumpy" gold and silver nanoparticles. By doing so, they were able to boost the cells' absolute efficiency up to 8.1 percent.
The team at Swinburne's Victoria-Suntech Advanced Solar Facility (VSASF) had already been embedding conventional gold and silver nanoparticles into thin-film cells produced by Suntech. These highly-reflective particles increased the wavelength of absorbed sunlight, thus improving the rate at which its photons were converted into electrons.
The uneven surfaces of the bumpy nanoparticles, however, scatter the light even farther into a broadband wavelength range. This reportedly results in even greater absorption, thus improving the cells' overall efficiency. The scientists hope to get the efficiency up to at least 10 percent by the middle of this year, and ultimately want to "develop solar cells that are twice as efficient and run at half the cost of those currently available."
The embedding process is apparently quite simple and inexpensive, so it could easily be added to the existing production process. Suntech plans on mass-producing the improved solar cells, and expects them to be commercially available by 2017.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AQUA TEK S – the first waterproof, ruggedized, solar-powered battery case for iPhone

By
If you're hoping to attract investors to get yet another iPhone case to an already crowded market, it had better do more than just protect a phone from bumps and scrapes. Snow Lizard Products is giving itself the best possible chance of raising funds for its new AQUA TEK S case for  iPhone 4  and  4S  with an offering that not only boasts ruggedized protection, but also includes a solar panel, built in battery, and is waterproof up to 20 ft (6 m). Aimed at outdoorsy types who want to stay connected when heading off the beaten track, the case features a waterproof and dirt resistant poly-carbonate ruggedized casing that packs its own built-in battery to extend the life of the the iPhone. The company is still investigating the best battery to fit the form factor so the capacity of the unit hasn't yet been finalized, but it will be able to recharge from the power of the Sun via the solar panel built into the rear of the case. The encased iPhone can also be recharg...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nanogenerator that harnesses energy from tires friction

By
Engineers from the  University of Wisconsin-Madison  along with a collaborator from China have created a new nanogenerator that harnesses energy from the friction caused by rolling tires. Xudong Wang has developed a new way to harvest energy from rolling tires (Credit: The College of Engineering) As a novel energy reusing method, the nanogenerator could be potentially used by auto-mobile manufacturers to improve the efficiency of their vehicles. The first of its kind, nanogenerator was published in the Nano Energy journal. The research was carried out by Xudong Wang, the Harvey D. Spangler fellow and an associate professor of materials science and engineering at UW-Madison, and his PhD student Yanchao Mao for about one year. Based on the triboelectric effect, the nanogenerator can harness energy resulting from the electric potential created between a vehicle's wheels and the pavement. The triboelectric effect is the electric charge generated due to the rubbing...
Post a Comment
Read more

New record energy efficiency for artificial photosynthesis

By
As the world moves towards developing new avenues of renewable energy, the efficiencies of producing fuels such as hydrogen must increase to the point that they rival or exceed those of conventional energy sources to make them a viable alternative. Now researchers at Monash University in Melbourne claim to have created a solar-powered device that produces hydrogen at a world-record 22 percent efficiency, which is a significant step towards making cheap, efficient hydrogen production a reality. Efficiency records for solar-powered hydrogen production have continued to rise over the years, and much more rapidly as the technology and techniques improve. Even as late as December last year  Gizmag reported  a solar-driven hydrogen record efficiency at the time of just 12.3 percent, so this new record shows a very healthy 10 percent improvement on that and beats out the previous record of 18 percent. Splitting water using electricity to produce hydrogen and oxygen has been a...
Post a Comment
Read more