Researchers at the ICFO Institute of Photonic Sciences have developed an approach to solar cell design that makes it possible to reduce energy losses caused by the re-emission of light. As Engadget reports, the experimental organic solar cell design increased its efficiency by approximately 0.85%.
Solar panels usually contain a semiconductor material, most often crystalline silicon. Under the influence of sunlight, it releases electrons and generates an electric current. Part of the resulting energy is converted into heat or re-emitted as light.
Scientists have long studied ways to reduce heat losses, including by changing semiconductor materials. The ICFO team focused on another limitation: so-called Boltzmann losses associated with the light emitted by the solar cell itself.
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In an article published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, the researchers described a way to reduce the mismatch between the narrow angle of sunlight absorption and the wider angle of emission. For the experiment, they used an organic solar cell rather than a silicon one.
They replaced its front indium tin oxide electrode with a thin silver electrode and turned the structure into an optical resonator. Such a cell transmitted sunlight but emitted less light at wide angles.
The theoretical efficiency limit, known as the Shockley—Queisser limit, is 33.16%. According to ICFO’s estimate, narrowing the emission angle to parameters closer to the angle of sunlight absorption could bring solar cell efficiency closer to 43%. Consumer solar panels currently typically have an efficiency of 20–23%.
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