Scientists Unveil A New More Efficient Energy Carrying Particle for Solar Cells

Scientists from the University of California, MIT, and Harvard University have collaborated on a joint project to try and create a new form of transferring energy efficiently in solar cells and other photonic circuits, and they have just had a breakthrough in the form of topological plexcitons.

Exciton Energy Transfer (EET) is the name given to the process that involves the exchange of energy between light and matter, and this is what scientists were looking to improve on. The clever team was able to create these new particles, plexcitons, which were able to increase the distance of energy transfer from around 10 nanometers to approximately 20,000 nanometers. That is a significant increase in anyone’s books!

However, one of the biggest problems the scientists found was that although energy transfer rates were vastly improved, the plexcitons moved uncontrollably in either direction hence undoing any good energy saving it had generated. The way in which this problem was solved was by using topological insulators to create new topological plexcitons that allowed scientists to control the flow of light energy by forcing them to move in one direction.

Further research on this subject will allow us to make better use of solar panels and other forms of renewable energy. Studies are already underway in regards to producing plexcitonic switches that can efficiently deliver energy across solar panels. This new are of study has only really just begun in its exploration, so many good things could be yet to come from this amazing discovery.

The research is published in Nature.com

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