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posted by CoolHand on Tuesday May 19 2015, @08:09AM   Printer-friendly

Researchers at Aalto University and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya have created black silicon (silicon with nanopatterned "needles" on the surface, lowering the reflectivity) solar cells with an efficiency of 22.1%. Their research is published in Nature Nanotechnology. These solar cells can capture more light than traditional cells with the same efficiency:

"The energy conversion efficiency is not the only parameter that we should look at" explains Professor Hele Savin from Aalto University, who coordinated the study. Due to the ability of black cells to capture solar radiation from low angles, they generate more electricity already over the duration of one day as compared to the traditional cells.

"This is an advantage particularly in the north, where the sun shines from a low angle for a large part of the year. We have demonstrated that in winter Helsinki, black cells generate considerably more electricity than traditional cells even though both cells have identical efficiency values," she adds.

In the near future, the goal of the team is to apply the technology to other cell structures – in particular, thin and multi-crystalline cells.

"Our record cells were fabricated using p-type silicon, which is known to suffer from impurity-related degradation. There is no reason why even higher efficiencies could not be reached using n-type silicon or more advanced cell structures." Hele Savin predicts.

The development of the cells fabricated last year will continue in the upcoming "BLACK" project, supported by the European Union, in which Professor Savin together with her team will develop the technology further in cooperation with industry.

"The surface area of the best cells in the study was already 9 cm2. This is a good starting point for upscaling the results to full wafers and all the way to the industrial scale."

 
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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by kaszz on Tuesday May 19 2015, @10:03AM

    by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday May 19 2015, @10:03AM (#184995) Journal

    The solar cell efficiency record is 46% [cleantechnica.com] using a four-junction cell where each the cell’s four sub-cells converts precisely one quarter of the incoming photons into electricity, thanks to precise tuning of the composition and thicknesses of each layer inside the cell structure.

    Way better that 22.1%. But the catch is price. Both in energy joule/US$ and installed capacity watt/US$.

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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by FatPhil on Tuesday May 19 2015, @11:47AM

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday May 19 2015, @11:47AM (#185027) Homepage
    > solar cell efficiency record is 46%

    "... Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ..."

    Expect patents...
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday May 19 2015, @11:54AM

      by kaszz (4211) on Tuesday May 19 2015, @11:54AM (#185030) Journal

      Thus cost ;)

      If the 22.1% panels cost less than half the cost of the Fraunhofer 46% panels then for pure joule/US$ Fraunhofer will loose. Their panels will only make sense where space is at a premium.

      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2015, @12:16PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2015, @12:16PM (#185034)

        They might also make sense where space is plentiful: In space. However that may depend on the weight of those solar cells.

      • (Score: 2) by forkazoo on Tuesday May 19 2015, @05:38PM

        by forkazoo (2561) on Tuesday May 19 2015, @05:38PM (#185140)

        "Win" and "Lose" depends on the application. For home solar, you'd never use the highest efficiency panels in the world at any given time since the price will be crazy. You can charge 100's of times the price of lesser panels for the highest efficiency ones for applications like satellites in space where spending millions on better solar panels can save you tens of millions in launch costs. For desktop calculators, you just don't need that much power, so even a few extra cents for 22% panels would be pointless. This black silicon is likely to be much more cost effective than 40+% panels for the foreseeable future. If it can be competitive with the ~18% panels that are currently common then they may take over the market for things like rooftop home solar in the next few years. Eventually four junction cells will become cheaper, but the technology is only a few years old. Black silicon has existed since the 80's, so there is quite a bit more accumulated reasearch on it at the moment, making it more likely to be closer to practical large scale production.

    • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday May 19 2015, @06:01PM

      by DeathMonkey (1380) on Tuesday May 19 2015, @06:01PM (#185152) Journal

      > solar cell efficiency record is 46%

      "... Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ..."

      Expect patents...
       
      A physical invention that turns sunlight into electricity in the most efficient manner possible. If there is anything that actually deserves a patent, that's it.