The photovoltaic energy sector has been developing optimal innovations for some time to offer greater efficiency in capturing and converting electricity than the figures achieved until now. In these terms, one of the latest studies published in a scientific journal finds a solution applicable to solar panel that breaks quantum physics records.
What is the new study that breaks the energy efficiency record?
The news comes from the United States where a team of scientists from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania created a formulation that combines new chemical elements to offer greater energy efficiency than that achieved to date.
The result specified in a quantum material with Multiple Exciton Generation (MEG) which, integrated as an active layer in a solar cell device, offered 80% absorption and a high rate of photoexcited carriers.
The theoretical result obtained gives an electricity conversion efficiency of up to 63% compared to that achieved by the latest scientific studies with other elements such as perovskite, which had reached a record with 37%.
This It means a great advance to the current numberstaking into account that the use of extreme quantum efficiency (EQE), that is, the ability of photovoltaic cells to convert photons into usable electrons, had reached 100%.
This data means that each photon resulted in a usable electron. However, through this test, the EQE reached levels of 110% and 190% within a wide range of solar waves, including near-infrared and visible light spectrum.
How were these desirable results achieved for the next solar panel?
The research published in the journal Science Advances confirms that the prototype formulated by the scientific team achieves greater photovoltaic absorption of 80% to convert it into electricity within a solar panel.
Additionally, the EQE record achieved exceeds the theoretical Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit intended for measuring silicon-based materials. The great leap in efficiency levels is given by the intermediate band states.
In this way, these states allow the capture of a greater amount of energy from the photons that the conventional solar panel usually loses through reflection or heat production.
The new material combines germanium (Ge), selenium (Se) and tin sulfide (Sns) with zero-valent copper (Cu) atoms inserted between the layers of the material. It is a 2D two-dimensional Van der Waals (vdW) that has a planar crystalline configuration linked by ionic bonds.
The CuxGeSe/SnS material is designed in a thin sheet and stacked vertically to promote energy capture. Likewise, the thickness of the active layer can be increased, obtaining higher optical activity and greater EQE in wavelengths from 600 to 1,200 nm.
Promising future for solar panel
Obtaining a 63% electrical conversion in a solar panel with new technologies is a historic milestone for the renewable energy sector that can completely change the prospects for energy efficiency on the path to total self-sufficiency.
The team of researchers highlights the importance of continuing the work and joining forces with the industry to improve the EQE. Meanwhile, transformations are already being observed at the solar panel level with more textured shapes that minimize energy losses due to reflection.
Additionally, they see success in the production of multilayer designs with greater solar collection capacity, such as those that introduce semiconductors or perovskite. Likewise, optimize the internal quantum efficiency of a solar panel to avoid energy losses on its front side.
One of the members of the team, Chinedu Ekuma confirmed that this discovery is a transcendental step for the optimization of renewable energies and especially offers a new technology for the conventional solar panel to achieve greater efficiency on the path to independence from fossil fuels.
