A Breakthrough in Testing Solar Cells in Space lunduniversity
Feb 1 2023Reviewed by Megan Craig, M.Sc. Recently, at Lund University in Sweden, physics researchers were successful in building small solar radiation-collecting antennas—nanowires—using three varied materials that are a better fit for the solar spectrum than the silicon solar cells available.
This, put differently, implies that one and the same nanowire comprises three diverse materials that react to different parts of solar light. The study outcomes have been reported in Materials Today Energy and in greater detail in Nano Research. The challenge has been to combine different band gaps in the solar cells and that door has thus now opened at last. Alternative to Silicon in the Future Solar cells consisting of different band gaps, called tandem solar cells, are thus far primarily discovered on satellites and are the subject of intensive research. The study’s goal is to significantly increase efficiency, to probably double that of current commercial silicon solar cells .
The scientists in Lund make use of a bit different method. They have come up with an approach in which they build highly thin rods of semiconducting material on a substrate. The benefit is a small amount of material per unit area, which could decrease production charges and become a highly sustainable alternative.
In the following step, he and his collaborators will enhance the triple diodes by enhancing the tunnel junctions that link the various materials present in the structure and make an attempt to decrease the effect of the nanowires’ surface, which is known to be highly significant on a nanoscale. Recently, Borgström received financial support for his project for this cause from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation’s initiative for sustainable materials, WISE.
Testing in Space During the Spring Such benefits have resulted in the nanowire solar cells that are being recently suited on a research satellite, which was further sent into space in the second week of January by the collaboration partners of the researchers at the California Institute of Technology, Caltech, in the United States of America .
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