Solar cells technology is an alternative to conventional power sources. Solar energy is cheap, clean and sustainable. Solar cells have the role to convert light energy coming from the sun into electricity. They provide a renewable energy supply and can help reducing the emissions of carbon dioxide.
Scientists at Northwestern University and the U.S. Department of Energy have come to the conclusion that perovskite cells can repay their energy cost over 10 times faster than solar cells based on the traditional silicon materials. Professors Saiful and Aron, in collaboration with Dr Piers Barnes from the Imperial College in London, examined solar cells based on these materials called perovskites. The cell design can be improved by their atomic-scale insights into these novel crystalline compounds.
The efficiency of the crystalline perovskite solar cells is already well proven. The research on these novel compounds has seen a rapid increase in recent years. However, their fundamental properties are still not completely understood. One essential issue to be studied more is something known as ion diffusion. This may lead to unusual behavior in solar cells.
According to Saiful, their research team used a powerful combination of kinetic experiments and computer simulations. This way, they were able to show for the first time that these compounds are mixed ionic electronic conductors and that the diffusing species are iodide ions. Saiful added that the fresh insights their research brings could "have major implications for the future design of perovskite solar cells."
At his turn, Aron added that the key to developing efficiently and low-cost solar tech for residential and industrial use is developing better materials. This will ensure an optimization of the cost of solar power, as well as increasing output for the solar cell panels.
In another study on solar cells technology, researchers of the S N Bose Institute of Basic Sciences in India have come up with another proposal for reducing our over-dependence on silicon in a creation of solar panels. The research performed at the internationally known institute has found that an element of hematoporphyrin, which is a component in haemoglobin in blood, can maximize the efficiency of the solar cells as well, according to a senior scientist of the institute. Their project was financed by the Centre's Science and Technology Department.
Samir Kumar Pal, the lead scientist in the project, explained that the new component could also bring down the cost of solar panels. This component can be derived from blood available from a slaughterhouse. Solar panels using this component of blood are as efficient as those made from silicone. They can even work well "under a cloudy sky," Pal claims.
