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New efficiency record for solar cells
May 15, 2008Joint research at Eindhoven University of Technology and Fraunhofer Institute
The efficiency improvement is achieved by the use of an ultra-thin aluminum oxide layer at the front of the cell, and it brings a breakthrough in the use of solar energy a step closer.
An improvement of more than 1 per cent (in absolute terms) may at first glance appear modest, but it can enable solar cell manufacturers to greatly increase the performance of their products. This is because higher efficiency is a very effective way of reducing the cost price of solar energy. The costs of applying the thin layer of aluminum oxide are expected to be relatively low. This will mean a significant reduction in the cost of producing solar electricity.
Ultra-thin
Hoex was able to achieve the increase in efficiency by depositing an ultra-thin layer (approximately 30 nanometer) of aluminum oxide on the front of a crystalline silicon solar cell. This layer has an unprecedented high level of built-in negative charges, through which the - normally significant - energy losses at the surface are almost entirely eliminated. Of all sunlight falling on these cells, 23.2 per cent is now converted into electrical energy. This was formerly 21.9 per cent, which means a 6 per cent improvement in relative terms.
Dutch company OTB Solar
Hoex gained his PhD last week at the Applied Physics department of the TU/e with this research project. He was supported in the Plasma & Materials Processing (PMP) research group by professor Richard van de Sanden and associate professor Erwin Kessels. This group specializes in plasma deposition of extremely thin layers. The Dutch company OTB Solar has been a licensee of one of these processes since 2001, which it is using in its solar cell production lines. Numerous solar cell manufacturers around the world use equipment supplied by OTB Solar.
The ultra-thin aluminum oxide layer developed in the PMP group may lead to a technology innovation in the solar cell world. A number of major solar cell manufacturers have already shown interest.
Promising
Solar cells have for years looked like a highly promising way to partly solve the energy problem. The sun rises day after day, and solar cells can conveniently be installed on surfaces with no other useful purpose. Solar energy also offers opportunities for use in developing countries, many of which have high levels of sunshine. Within ten to fifteen years the price of electricity generated by solar cells is expected to be comparable to that of 'conventional' electricity from fossil fuels. This technology breakthrough now brings the industrial application of this type of high-efficiency solar cell closer. For this reason, part of Hoex's PhD research project was paid for by three Dutch ministries: Economic Affairs; Education, Culture and Science; and Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment.
Eindhoven University of Technology
Ultra-thin
Hoex was able to achieve the increase in efficiency by depositing an ultra-thin layer (approximately 30 nanometer) of aluminum oxide on the front of a crystalline silicon solar cell. This layer has an unprecedented high level of built-in negative charges, through which the - normally significant - energy losses at the surface are almost entirely eliminated. Of all sunlight falling on these cells, 23.2 per cent is now converted into electrical energy. This was formerly 21.9 per cent, which means a 6 per cent improvement in relative terms.
Dutch company OTB Solar
Hoex gained his PhD last week at the Applied Physics department of the TU/e with this research project. He was supported in the Plasma & Materials Processing (PMP) research group by professor Richard van de Sanden and associate professor Erwin Kessels. This group specializes in plasma deposition of extremely thin layers. The Dutch company OTB Solar has been a licensee of one of these processes since 2001, which it is using in its solar cell production lines. Numerous solar cell manufacturers around the world use equipment supplied by OTB Solar.
The ultra-thin aluminum oxide layer developed in the PMP group may lead to a technology innovation in the solar cell world. A number of major solar cell manufacturers have already shown interest.
Promising
Solar cells have for years looked like a highly promising way to partly solve the energy problem. The sun rises day after day, and solar cells can conveniently be installed on surfaces with no other useful purpose. Solar energy also offers opportunities for use in developing countries, many of which have high levels of sunshine. Within ten to fifteen years the price of electricity generated by solar cells is expected to be comparable to that of 'conventional' electricity from fossil fuels. This technology breakthrough now brings the industrial application of this type of high-efficiency solar cell closer. For this reason, part of Hoex's PhD research project was paid for by three Dutch ministries: Economic Affairs; Education, Culture and Science; and Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment.
Eindhoven University of Technology
Solar Cell Current Events and Solar Cell News RSSNanometric butterfly wings created
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Looking deeply into polymer solar cells
Researchers from the Eindhoven University of Technology and the University of Ulm have made the first high-resolution 3D images of the inside of a polymer solar cell.
Carbon nanotubes could make efficient solar cells
Using a carbon nanotube instead of traditional silicon, Cornell researchers have created the basic elements of a solar cell that hopefully will lead to much more efficient ways of converting light to electricity than now used in calculators and on rooftops.
Bringing solar power to the masses
On a 104-degree Friday in July when sunlight bathed The University of Arizona campus, doctoral student Dio Placencia sat before a noisy vacuum chamber in the Chemical Sciences Building trying to advance the renewable energy revolution.
Plastics that convert light to electricity could have a big impact
Researchers the world over are striving to develop organic solar cells that can be produced easily and inexpensively as thin films that could be widely used to generate electricity.
NIST scientists study how to stack the deck for organic solar power
A new class of economically viable solar power cells-cheap, flexible and easy to make-has come a step closer to reality as a result of recent work* at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where scientists have deepened their understanding of the complex organic films at the heart of the devices.
Nanopillars Promise Cheap, Efficient, Flexible Solar Cells
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have demonstrated a way to fabricate efficient solar cells from low-cost and flexible materials.
Low-cost solution processing method developed for CIGS-based solar cells
Though the solar industry today predominately produces solar panels made from crystalline silicon, they remain relatively expensive to make.
Flexible Solar Strips Light Up Campus Bus Shelter
There won't be anymore waiting in the dark at this campus bus shelter. New flexible solar cell technology developed by a group of engineering researchers at McMaster University has been installed to power lighting for night-time transit users.
Lasers are making solar cells competitive
Solar electricity has a future: It is renewable and available in unlimited quantities, and it does not produce any gases detrimental to the climate.
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