element14 Community
element14 Community
    Register Log In
  • Site
  • Search
  • Log In Register
  • Members
    Members
    • Achievement Levels
    • Benefits of Membership
    • Feedback and Support
    • Members Area
    • Personal Blogs
    • What's New on element14
  • Learn
    Learn
    • eBooks
    • Learning Center
    • Learning Groups
    • STEM Academy
    • Webinars, Training and Events
  • Technologies
    Technologies
    • 3D Printing
    • Experts & Guidance
    • FPGA
    • Industrial Automation
    • Internet of Things
    • Power & Energy
    • Sensors
    • Technology Groups
  • Challenges & Projects
    Challenges & Projects
    • Arduino Projects
    • Design Challenges
    • element14 presents
    • Project14
    • Project Groups
    • Raspberry Pi Projects
  • Products
    Products
    • Arduino
    • Avnet Boards Community
    • Dev Tools
    • Manufacturers
    • Product Groups
    • Raspberry Pi
    • RoadTests & Reviews
  • Store
    Store
    • Visit Your Store
    • 'Choose another store...'
      • Europe
      •  Austria (German)
      •  Belgium (Dutch, French)
      •  Bulgaria (Bulgarian)
      •  Czech Republic (Czech)
      •  Denmark (Danish)
      •  Estonia (Estonian)
      •  Finland (Finnish)
      •  France (French)
      •  Germany (German)
      •  Hungary (Hungarian)
      •  Ireland
      •  Israel
      •  Italy (Italian)
      •  Latvia (Latvian)
      •  
      •  Lithuania (Lithuanian)
      •  Netherlands (Dutch)
      •  Norway (Norwegian)
      •  Poland (Polish)
      •  Portugal (Portuguese)
      •  Romania (Romanian)
      •  Russia (Russian)
      •  Slovakia (Slovak)
      •  Slovenia (Slovenian)
      •  Spain (Spanish)
      •  Sweden (Swedish)
      •  Switzerland(German, French)
      •  Turkey (Turkish)
      •  United Kingdom
      • Asia Pacific
      •  Australia
      •  China
      •  Hong Kong
      •  India
      •  Korea (Korean)
      •  Malaysia
      •  New Zealand
      •  Philippines
      •  Singapore
      •  Taiwan
      •  Thailand (Thai)
      • Americas
      •  Brazil (Portuguese)
      •  Canada
      •  Mexico (Spanish)
      •  United States
      Can't find the country/region you're looking for? Visit our export site or find a local distributor.
  • Translate
  • Profile
Publications
  • Learn
  • More
Publications
Blog Solid-State Solar Cell Breakthrough
  • Blog
  • Documents
  • Events
  • Files
  • Members
  • Mentions
  • Sub-Groups
  • Tags
  • More
  • Cancel
  • New
Publications requires membership for participation - click to join
Blog Post Actions
  • Subscribe by email
  • More
  • Cancel
  • Share
  • Subscribe by email
  • More
  • Cancel
Group Actions
  • Group RSS
  • More
  • Cancel
Engagement
  • Author Author: Catwell
  • Date Created: 1 Jun 2012 6:30 PM Date Created
  • Views 353 views
  • Likes 1 like
  • Comments 1 comment
  • research
  • alternative_energy
  • on_campus
  • cabeatwell
  • prototyping
  • university
  • energy
  • solar
  • innovation
Related
Recommended

Solid-State Solar Cell Breakthrough

Catwell
Catwell
1 Jun 2012

image

(Upper left) Red image showing the 3D structure of the CsSnI3 panel, absorption is at 1.3eV (via Nature)

 

As seen on element 14, there are a wide array of solar cells providing different ideas for solar energy harvesting. The Gratzel cell, first developed by Michael Gratzel and Brian O’Regan, was unique in that it used an organic liquid as an electrolyte that evenly covered the entire area of the solar cell. This would provide a lot of surface area for photovoltaic reactions, but fundamental problems kept it from advancing. Since the electrolyte is a liquid, there was the risk of leaking and this liquid was capable of corroding solar panel if it did. Not only that, but the lifespan for a Gratzel cell was only 18 months.

 

 

Nanotechnology experts and researchers from Northwestern University, lead by Robert P. H. Chang, decided to tackle on these issues with the Gratzel cell to produce a new version. This version is not technically a Gratzel cell because of some fundamental differences but builds on similar concepts and promises to provide dramatic improvement in cost, longevity and efficiency. Their studies were supported by the NSF, U.S. DoE, and the Initiative for Energy and Sustainability at Northwestern.

 

 

To start, the corrosive liquid has been switched out by a thin-film, p-type semiconductor compound, CsSnI3, which can be poured in the cell as a liquid and then solidifies. This new cell also uses titanium dioxide spheres as the n-type semiconductor and a monolayer dye molecule that connects the two. The thin-film, CsSnI3 compound is a natural light absorber, but each cell is coated with additional light absorbing dye. Chang says the solid electrolyte will allow for more efficient, more stable and longer lasting cells.

 

 

Each cell measures 1 cm by 1 cm by 10 microns thick. Each is composed of millions and millions of 20 nanometer nanoparticles. Chang calculated that this size maximized the amount of spheres that could fit, while optimizing the space between them to allow for conduction.

 

 

Preliminary tests at Northwestern resulted in an efficiency of approximately 10.2%, the highest for any solid-state solar cell with dye sensitizer. This value is very close to the highest Gratzel efficiency obtained which was 11-12% but still below the conventional silicon efficiency of about 20%.

 

 

Chang is confident that the low cost and small size of the cells will make them competitive. He adds that these solar cells are perfect candidates for automated manufacture, which would reduce costs even more.

 

 

Of course, there are still many improvements to be made to increase the energy conversion efficiency. This concept of solid-state electrolyte could even be applied to other types of solar cells so as Chang said, “This is only the beginning… there is a lot of room to grow”. A paper titled, “All-Solid-State Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells With High Efficiency” was published by the Northwestern team on May 24 in the journal Nature.

 

 

Cabe

http://twitter.com/Cabe_e14

  • Sign in to reply
  • DAB
    DAB over 11 years ago

    If they can make the cells inexpensive, it could be a great leap for solar.

    Making the devices non-toxic was a necessity.  I could already see how the EPA and environmentalist would go crazy if you applied poisonous devices just to make energy.  Can't say that I would blame them.

     

    The new compound should work better.  The materials have a fair number of infrared absorption bands to aid in the energy transfer.

     

    Worth keeping an eye on.

     

    Just my opinion,

    DAB

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • More
    • Cancel
element14 Community

element14 is the first online community specifically for engineers. Connect with your peers and get expert answers to your questions.

  • Members
  • Learn
  • Technologies
  • Challenges & Projects
  • Products
  • Store
  • About Us
  • Feedback & Support
  • FAQs
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal and Copyright Notices
  • Sitemap
  • Cookies

An Avnet Company © 2023 Premier Farnell Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Premier Farnell Ltd, registered in England and Wales (no 00876412), registered office: Farnell House, Forge Lane, Leeds LS12 2NE.

ICP 备案号 10220084.

Follow element14

  • X
  • Facebook
  • linkedin
  • YouTube