SoylentNews

Semi-Transparent and Flexible Solar Cells Made from Atomically Thin Sheet

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday September 26 2017, @08:11PM   
from the it's-a-start dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Researchers at Tohoku University have developed an innovative method for fabricating semitransparent and flexible solar cells with atomically thin 2-D materials. The new technology improves power conversion efficiency of up to 0.7 percent, the highest value for solar cells made from transparent 2-D sheet materials.

Transparent or semi-transparent solar cells with excellent mechanical flexibility have attracted much attention as next-generation smart solar cells. They can be used on the surfaces of windows, front display panels of personal computers and cellphones, and human skin. But issues remain with regard to improving their power conversion efficiency, optical transparency, flexibility, stability and scalability.

Led by Associate Professor T. Kato, the team showed easy and scalable fabrication of semi-transparent and flexible solar cells using transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), an atomically thin 2-D material. Using a Schottky-type configuration, power conversion efficiency can be increased up to 0.7 percent, which is the highest value reported with few-layered TMDs. Clear power generation was also observed for a device fabricated on a large transparent and flexible substrate.

0.7 percent solar power conversion efficiency isn't much.

Toshiki Akama et al, Schottky solar cell using few-layered transition metal dichalcogenides toward large-scale fabrication of semitransparent and flexible power generator, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-12287-6

---

Original Submission

• Re:How much fossil fuel is required to make these? (Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday September 26 2017, @10:35PM

  by c0lo (156) on Tuesday September 26 2017, @10:35PM (#573548) Journal

  How much fossil fuel must be combusted, generating large volumes of greenhouse gases, to generate the electricity needed to power the manufacturing of these solar cells?

  My guess? A fraction of the energy cost of the glass substrate the window pane is made of.
  TFA "Device fabrication on the large size PEN substrate"

  The WS2 was grown on a SiO2 substrate by a conventional CVD method (Fig. 4a(i)). Then, the CVD grown WS2 was covered by a water-soluble polymer (Fig. 4a(ii) and transferred to the asymmetric electrodes (Fig. 4a(iii, vii)), which was separately prepared on a large size PEN substrate (Fig. 4a(iv-vi). The polymer was carefully removed by soaking in a water, obtaining the suspended WS2 device between asymmetric electrodes in a large size transparent and flexible substrate (Fig. 4a(viii)

  The energy intensive step is the CVD (chemical vapour deposition). Given that the film is 3 atom layers in thickness, one need to vaporize a very small amount of reactants at temperatures comparable with the glass melting temperature (Tungsten diselenide melts at 1200C)

  In contrast, to make that sheet of glass that is your window requires to melt the entire mass of it to pass through the rollers.

  --
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

  Parent

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Moderation		+1
  Insightful=1, Total=1
  Extra 'Insightful' Modifier		0
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		3