Plastic solar cell efficiency breaks record
April 19, 2007The global search for a sustainable energy supply is making significant strides at Wake Forest University as researchers at the university’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials have announced that they have pushed the efficiency of plastic solar cells to more than 6 percent.
In a paper to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters, Wake Forest researchers describe how they have achieved record efficiency for organic or flexible, plastic solar cells by creating “nano-filaments” within light absorbing plastic, similar to the veins in tree leaves. This allows for the use of thicker absorbing layers in the devices, which capture more of the sun’s light.
Efficient plastic solar cells are extremely desirable because they are inexpensive and light weight, especially in comparison to traditional silicon solar panels. Traditional solar panels are heavy and bulky and convert about 12 percent of the light that hits them to useful electrical power. Researchers have worked for years to create flexible, or “conformal,” organic solar cells that can be wrapped around surfaces, rolled up or even painted onto structures.
Three percent was the highest efficiency ever achieved for plastic solar cells until 2005 when David Carroll, director of the Wake Forest nanotechnology center, and his research group announced they had come close to reaching 5 percent efficiency.
Now, a little more than a year later, Carroll said his group has surpassed the 6 percent mark.
"Within only two years we have more than doubled the 3 percent mark,” Carroll said. “I fully expect to see higher numbers within the next two years, which may make plastic devices the photovoltaic of choice.”
In order to be considered a viable technology for commercial use, solar cells must be able to convert about 8 percent of the energy in sunlight to electricity. Wake Forest researchers hope to reach 10 percent in the next year, said Carroll, who is also associate professor of physics at Wake Forest.
Because they are flexible and easy to work with, plastic solar cells could be used as a replacement for roof tiling or home siding products or incorporated into traditional building facades. These energy harvesting devices could also be placed on automobiles. Since plastic solar cells are much lighter than the silicon solar panels structures do not have to be reinforced to support additional weight.
Source: Wake Forest University
-
New form of hafnium oxide developed
Feb 07, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (5) |
4
-
Harnessing plasmonics, engineers weld nanowires with light
Feb 06, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
1
-
Photovoltaic panels made from plant material could become a cheap alternative to traditional solar cells
Feb 03, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (9) |
0
-
Eureka! Kitchen gadget inspires scientist to make more effective plastic electronics
Jan 27, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (9) |
2
-
New breakthrough shows promise for affordable plastic solar energy cells
Dec 20, 2011 |
4 / 5 (5) |
3
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (30) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Rubber production is likely to gradually reduce
2 hours ago
-
Help! Physics Momentum/Impulse problem!
2 hours ago
-
Gauss' law cubes, how to prove
4 hours ago
-
A grandfather pulls his granddaughter, whose mass is 20.5 kg
5 hours ago
-
what is significance of torque
5 hours ago
-
Difference between volume displaced fluid and volume of the object
6 hours ago
- More from Physics Forums - General Physics
More news stories
'Dark plasmons' transmit energy
Microscopic channels of gold nanoparticles have the ability to transmit electromagnetic energy that starts as light and propagates via "dark plasmons," according to researchers at Rice University.
10 hours ago |
5 / 5 (4) |
0
|
Nanotube therapy takes aim at breast cancer stem cells
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers have again proven that injecting multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into tumors and heating them with a quick, 30-second laser treatment can kill them.
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
15 hours ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
|
Inspired by steel, nanomanufacturing gets wear-resistant carbide tip
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and IBM Research - Zurich have fabricated an ultrasharp silicon carbide tip possessing such high strength ...
20 hours ago |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
|
New technology platform for molecule-based electronics
Researchers at the Nano-Science Center at the University of Copenhagen have developed a new nano-technology platform for the development of molecule-based electronic components using the wonder material graphene. At the same ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
17 hours ago |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
New kind of solar cell could capture significantly more energy than current cells
New solar cells could increase the maximum efficiency of solar panels by over 25%, according to scientists from the University of Cambridge.
Feb 08, 2012 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
14
|
FDA-approved drug rapidly clears amyloid from the brain, reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice
Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show t ...
Hydrogen from acidic water: Researchers develop potential low cost alternative to platinum for splitting water
A technique for creating a new molecule that structurally and chemically replicates the active part of the widely used industrial catalyst molybdenite has been developed by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley ...
Ultraviolet protection molecule in plants yields its secrets
Lying around in the sun all day is hazardous not just for humans but also for plants, which have no means of escape. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun can damage proteins and DNA inside cells, leading ...
Soraa LED light may dim 50-watt halogen rivals
(PhysOrg.com) -- Soraa, a Fremont, California company founded in 2008, this week launched its first product, a light that uses LEDS (light emitting diodes). The "Soraa LED MR16 lamp" is the "perfect" replacement ...
Anyone can learn to be more inventive, cognitive researcher says
There will always be a wild and unpredictable quality to creativity and invention, says Anthony McCaffrey, a cognitive psychology researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, because an "Aha moment" is rare and ...
Engineers find inspiration for new materials in Piranha-proof armor
(PhysOrg.com) -- Its a matchup worthy of a late-night cable movie: put a school of starving piranha and a 300-pound fish together, and who comes out the winner?