Researchers at IBM have increased the efficiency of a novel type of solar cell made largely from cheap and abundant materials by over 40 percent. According to an article published in the journal Advanced Materials, the new efficiency is 9.6 percent, up from the previous record of 6.7 percent for this type of solar cell, and near the level needed for commercial solar panels. The IBM solar cells also have the advantage of being made with an inexpensive ink-based process.
The new solar cells convert light into electricity using a semiconductor material made of copper, zinc, tin, and sulfur--all abundant elements--as well as the relatively rare element selenium (CZTS). The IBM solar cells could be an alternative to existing "thin film" solar cells. Thin film solar cells use materials that are particularly good at absorbing light. The leading thin film manufacturer uses a material that includes the rare element tellurium.
While total worldwide electricity demand will likely reach dozens of terawatts (trillions of watts) in the coming decades, thin film solar cells based on the rare tellurium will likely be limited to producing about 0.3 terawatts, while the new cells from IBM could produce an order of magnitude more power.
There sure is no stopping research on solar cells. After all, this is one source we can bank on for a few more billion years.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
Is this same as IBM KESTERITE CELL ?
A team at the Nagaoka National College of Technology in Japan produced a thin-film kesterite cell in 2009, which had an efficiency of 6.8 per cent. IBM’s kesterite cell has increased the efficiency by 40 per cent.
No this is different, and claimed to be made using cheap and abundantly available materisl. Check out: http://cleantechnica.com/2010/02/14/ibm-sets-new-solar-cell-efficiency-world-record/
John you are right, this is an extension of that work. Previous work in Japan had shown that such "kesterite" cells could achieve efficiencies of nearly 7 percent—not enough for deployment in the field, where lab efficiencies are usually cut at least in half—but promising. By varying the ratio of sulfur and selenium, Mitzi and his colleagues were able to boost the overall efficiency of the kesterite solar cell by 40 percent.
Post a Comment