Solar energy is one of the most popular and most accessible forms of renewable energy on the planet. One problem with the power, however, is the cost of acquiring the tools necessary to use it. Silicon is the material which subsequently causes solar power to be so expensive to come by. However, a new way of creating solar panels may change all this.
A California Institute of technology professor, Harry Atwater, has been creating a new technology concerning solar cells. His design has recently been published in the journal Nature Materials. Atwater’s technology may mean potentially using one to two percent less silicon than we currently employ for solar panels.
Atwater stated: “Our technology uses 50-100 times less silicon in the form of a sparse array of wires. And that sparse array of wires has exactly the same light absorption and electricity-collection properties as the conventional silicon wafer cell.”
The solar panels that Atwater has created in his lab also do not have the appearance of a conventional silicon panel. According to Atwater, his silicon panels “basically [have] the mechanical properties of a flexible plastic sheet.” This property of the panels opens the door for many new uses for the technology, including use on surfaces that are not flat. Atwater believes they could be used in roofing and on vehicle surfaces.
The reduction in silicon may also allow for increased energy absorption from the sun. Atwater stated: “The light comes in and is both directly absorbed by the wires, and some of the light bounces around in between the wires. That bouncing around or multiple scattering in between the wires results in dramatically enhanced absorption. In fact, absorption enhancement that we see is in the range of 20 to 50 times the single-pass absorbance.”
That is great. I’m glad that solar panels will finally be a bit more affordable!!
Do you think this new technology hasn’t been aquired by SunPower yet?
Fron the moment that I’d heard that they had a spary on version of solar cell I knew that every thing possible will one day be coated in the stuff. We are in the infancy of solar power and tech only keeps getting better and better so if it’s rough and dosent quite keep up to were we won’t it right now I know that the only direction it has to go is up in efficency, power output and style. The only thing that could kill that dream I stated above would be mankinds lack of intrest in solar.
Fron the moment that I’d heard that they had a spary on version of solar cell I knew that every thing possible will one day be coated in the stuff. We are in the infancy of solar power and tech only keeps getting better and better so if it’s rough and dosent quite keep up to were we won’t it right now I know that the only direction it has to go is up in efficency, power output and style. The only thing that could kill that dream I stated above would be mankinds lack of intrest in solar.
Fron the moment that I’d heard that they had a spary on version of solar cell I knew that every thing possible will one day be coated in the stuff. We are in the infancy of solar power and tech only keeps getting better and better so if it’s rough and dosent quite keep up to were we won’t it right now I know that the only direction it has to go is up in efficency, power output and style. The only thing that could kill that dream I stated above would be mankinds lack of intrest in solar.