In the lab, a team led by a Pakistani scientist has developed a promising solar cell technology that breaks two world records for efficiency. The approach could aid in the development of clean energy initiatives to combat global warming.
Yasir Siddique, a PhD candidate at the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) and the University of Science and Technology (UST) in Daejeon, South Korea, designed and built solution-processed Copper Indium Sulphu Selenide (CISSe) solar cells.
The stable solution-processed, low bandgap CISSe device works perfectly as a single cell, but it could also be sandwiched with other thin-film solar cell materials with suitable bandgap as top cell-like recently emerging Perovskite solar cell technology in tandem solar cell configuration.
The bandgap is the amount of energy required to free an electron from a semiconductor; the lower the bandgap, the more electricity is produced.
Our sun is 150 million kilometers away on average, but it is a primary source of light and heat for our planet. The sun, in theory, emits 1,360 watts per square meter of mixed energy on a surface that is directly facing it.
However, the majority of the sunlight on any solar cell is reflected or passed through the structure, and only a small percentage of the energy is converted directly from sunlight into electricity.
As a result, the power conversion rate, also known as efficiency, is the degree to which a solar cell converts energy from sunlight.
There are many different types of solar cells, each with a different efficiency. Another way to describe them is as the first, second, and third generation of solar cells.
Different types of solar cells have different efficiencies; for example, traditional silicon cells have efficiencies ranging from 15% to 20%, whereas concentrated solar cells can be 41% efficient but require focused beams in one location.
Siddique’s cell, on the other hand, fits into the emerging trend of Tandem solar technology and is now the most efficient in its class.
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