Since the use solar panels were introduced both commercially and for those at home, they have come a long way in terms of their efficiency. Increasing from around 4 percent efficient back in the 1980’s to an average of around 20 percent today is a significant improvement, but surely we can do better than that?
Scientists are still battling it out to try and get better results from solar cells regarding both cost and efficiency, and a team has made a discovery at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory that may do just that. By taking a closer look at perovskites, the scientist was able to uncover more about their composition and structure. They discovered that perovskites are made up of grains that are faceted, similar to that of a diamond’s surface, and it is these facts that differ in their efficiency in producing electricity.
With uncovering the truth about perovskites, the team managed to achieve an efficiency rate of over 30 percent by optimizing the favorable facts within them. This is another significant increase regarding efficiency levels for solar cells and could lead to very exciting times indeed. Studies are still ongoing and research institutes including the lab of Henry Snaith at the University of Oxford and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado are now working on fabrication techniques to develop these cells further to be fit for the consumer market.
Related Articles;
A New Way of Looking at Solar Cells – MIT News
Promising New Solar Material Boosts Performance of Silicon – MIT News
Discovery could dramatically boost efficiency of perovskite solar cells – EurekAlert
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