Researchers at Oxford University have developed an ultra-thin layer of material that can be applied to roofs, cars, and even phones to turn them into solar panels.
This ultra-thin and flexible material consists of layers of light-absorbing perovskites just over one micron thick. The new material is 150 times thinner than a traditional silicon wafer and provides 5% higher energy efficiency compared to single-layer silicon photovoltaic cells.
Dr. Shauifeng Hu, a postdoctoral researcher at Oxford’s Faculty of Physics, believes that this approach will allow photovoltaic devices to achieve significantly higher efficiency — more than 45%.
The new technology could also reduce the cost of solar energy. Due to the material’s thinness and flexibility, it can be applied to almost any surface, which reduces construction and installation costs and could increase the number of solar power plants.
However, this technology is still at the research stage. The university does not mention the long-term stability of the new perovskite panels. Although the increase in solar energy efficiency from 6 to 27% in five years is impressive, the stability of perovskites has always been limited compared to photovoltaic technology, as notes U.S. Department of Energy.
Over the past decade, solar energy has become a cheaper option for energy supply. The cost of photovoltaic technology has fallen by 90% over the past 10 years, according to data Global Change Data Lab.
Source: Engadget
Spelling error report
The following text will be sent to our editors: