Science and Technology
Engineers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have taken a decisive step in the race for new solar cells by establishing a world record for efficiency for antimony chalcogenide, an emerging material for photovoltaic energy. In the laboratory, the new cell achieved 11,02 percent efficiency, with 10,7 percent independently certified, the best performance ever recorded for this compound anywhere in the world.
The achievement is not just about the number. Besides being included in the International Tables of Solar Cell Efficiency for the first time, the work shows that… Engineers have managed to understand the chemical mechanism that has been limiting the material since 2020.This opens the door for further improvements and applications ranging from tandem cells in panels to energy-generating windows and interior devices powered by ambient light.
The team led by Professor Xiaojing Hao, from the School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW, had been exploring antimony chalcogenide as a candidate for a superior cell in tandem architectures with silicon.
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Researchers worldwide are searching for this type of combination, in which Two or more solar cells are stacked, each absorbing a different range of the solar spectrum. to extract more electricity from the same ray of sunlight.
UNSW engineers identified that antimony chalcogenide possessed promising characteristics, but it ran into an efficiency barrier that had not exceeded 10 percent since 2020.
The new study published in Nature Energy It shows how this barrier was overcome and why the material, once viewed with skepticism, is back at the center of conversations about next-generation solar technology.
Antimony chalcogenide offers a package of advantages that appeals to engineers working with photovoltaics. It is made up of abundant and relatively inexpensive elements.This reduces the reliance on rare and expensive metals found in some high-performance solar materials.
Furthermore, it is a material inorganicThis provides greater stability over time compared to certain newer technologies that can degrade easily. Another crucial point is… high light absorption coefficient.
A layer only about 300 nanometers thick, roughly one-thousandth the thickness of a human hair, is already sufficient to efficiently capture sunlight.
The engineers also point out that the material can be deposited in low temperaturesThis reduces energy consumption in manufacturing and facilitates large-scale production at a potentially lower cost.
Despite its many positive qualities, the performance of antimony chalcogenide had been stagnant. In new research, UNSW engineers discovered that the problem lay in… Uneven distribution of sulfur and selenium elements during the production of the absorber layer..
This unbalanced distribution created a energy barrier inside the material, hindering the passage of the electrical charge generated by sunlight to the cell contacts.
The study’s first author, Dr. Chen QianHe compares the situation to driving a car uphill: you need to use much more fuel to reach the same point than you would on a flat road.
When the internal distribution of the elements becomes more uniform, the charge can move much more easily through the absorber. preventing electrons from becoming trapped and increasing the fraction of sunlight converted into useful electricity..
The solution found by the engineers was relatively simple from a process standpoint, but powerful in its results. They added a small amount of sodium sulfide during manufacturing., stabilizing the chemical reactions that form the layer that absorbs sunlight.
This fine-tuning allowed for better control of the local composition of sulfur and selenium, reducing the energy barrier that was restricting the flow of charge.
The result was an antimony chalcogenide cell that reached 11,02 percent energy conversion efficiency in the laboratory. with 10,7 percent certified by CSIRO, one of nine internationally recognized independent photovoltaic measurement centers.
For the engineers involved, the efficiency gain is significant in itself, but more importantly, There is now a clear path for further improvements., supported by chemical understanding, and not just empirical attempts.
The implications go beyond future tandem solar panels. Due to ultra-thin thickness, semi-transparency, and high bifaciality of approximately 0,86antimony chalcogenide proves to be particularly interesting for transparent solar windowscapable of generating energy without completely blocking the view.
A spin-off company called Sydney Solar already working to scale up production of a kind of “Solar sticker” for windows, exploring precisely this combination of thinness, partial transparency, and good response to light.
In this scenario, engineers envision entire building facades contributing to electricity generation without radically altering the aesthetics of cities.
Another promising front lies in indoor solar applicationsThe material’s so-called “band gap” fits well within the spectrum of artificial light found in indoor environments.
This makes antimony chalcogenide a strong candidate to power smart badges, e-paper displays, self-contained sensors, and internet-connected devices.in which safety, stability, and low-light performance are more critical than maximum efficiency in sunlight.
Despite the record, UNSW engineers acknowledge that there is still work to be done. The next step is to reduce internal defects in the material through passivation processes.Chemical treatments that neutralize imperfections that drain charge and reduce efficiency.
Dr. Qian states that the team considers targeting realistic. Efficiencies of around 12 percent in the near future., tackling the remaining challenges incrementally.
To the engineers involvedEach fraction of a percentage point gained means more power in less area, greater competitiveness against other technologies, and more options for hybrid architectures with silicon and special applications.
Meanwhile, antimony chalcogenide is no longer just a name in academic articles but is now appearing among the… Real candidates to compose the next generation of solar cells.in panels, windows, Internet of Things devices, and electronics that hardly need recharging.
Knowing that engineers Given that they are already able to extract 10,7 percent efficiency from this emerging material, are you more excited about the idea of windows generating energy at home or about indoor devices operating autonomously, using only ambient light?
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