Transparent solar panels break the efficiency record

Transparent solar panels are nothing new. But it is difficult for the panels to make the most of the sunlight, the efficiency is low, and additional engineering and development is required.

However, the efficiency is increased with a new design by a group of researchers from the University of Michigan. In fact, they hit the record with an efficiency of 8%.

The research is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

High-rise buildings, which prevent the sun from coming down and leaving cities, are an excellent source for turning the sun’s rays into energy.

Raise the bar very high

Researchers achieved 8.1% efficiency and 43.3% transparency thanks to a carbon-based design instead of the commonly used silicon.

“The new material we developed, and the structure of the device we built, had to balance several tradeoffs to provide good sunlight absorption, high voltage, high current, low resistance and neutral color transparency, ”deputy researcher Yongxi Li told Michigan News.

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There are currently two versions of solar cells. One is neutral in color, which was made with an indium tin oxide electrode and the efficiency increased up to 10.8% with a transparency of 45.8% thanks to an electrode in money. The other, however, has a slight green tint, which might make it unsuitable for certain window applications.

Expecting to reach a great mass

The versions also have an advantage because they are made with less toxic materials, excluding silicon.

Organic molecules are designed to be transparent and absorb near infrared light, an invisible part of the spectrum that makes up a large part of the energy.

Of course, like any large, detailed study, scientists don’t do research. Naturally, we seek to achieve greater efficiency and look for cost effective ways to install the cells on new and existing buildings.