Solar Power Game-changer: ‘Near Perfect’ Absorption Of Sunlight, From All Angles

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered and demonstrated a new method for overcoming two major hurdles facing solar energy. By developing a new antireflective coating that boosts the amount of sunlight captured by solar panels and allows those panels to absorb the entire solar spectrum from nearly any angle, the research team has moved academia and industry closer to realizing high-efficiency, cost-effective solar power.

“To get maximum efficiency when converting solar power into electricity, you want a solar panel that can absorb nearly every single photon of light, regardless of the sun’s position in the sky,” said Shawn-Yu Lin, professor of physics at Rensselaer and a member of the university’s Future Chips Constellation, who led the research project.  “Our new antireflective coating makes this possible.”

An untreated silicon solar cell only absorbs 67.4 percent of sunlight shone upon it — meaning that nearly one-third of that sunlight is reflected away and thus unharvestable. From an economic and efficiency perspective, this unharvested light is wasted potential and a major barrier hampering the proliferation and widespread adoption of solar power. 

After a silicon surface was treated with Lin’s new nanoengineered reflective coating, however, the material absorbed 96.21 percent of sunlight shone upon it — meaning that only 3.79 percent of the sunlight was reflected and unharvested. This huge gain in absorption was consistent across the entire spectrum of sunlight, from UV to visible light and infrared, and moves solar power a significant step forward toward economic viability. 

Lin’s new coating also successfully tackles the tricky challenge of angles. 

Read more . . .

Random Posts:

• Google’s Big Plan for Books
• Robot fish could prevent crashes
• Lettuce From the Garden, With Worms
• Hu’s carbon commitment marks new era for China
• Kicking Reality Up a Notch

Related posts:

1. Photovoltaic Breakthroughs Brighten Outlook for Cheap Solar Power
2. New ‘Window’ Opens On Solar Energy: Cost Effective Devices Available Soon
3. Bringing Sunlight Inside
4. Solar panel roads to power our homes
5. Color matters: GreenSun Energy colored solar technology

Tags: economic viability, Innovation, maximum efficiency, rensselaer polytechnic institute, solar cell, solar energy, solar panel, solar panels, solar power, sunlight

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2008 at 5:10 pm and is filed under Innovation, Project Energy, Science Digest / Science Daily. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.