New record of photovoltaic cell performance

Spectrolac, a subsidiary of the US Boeing Group, has successfully developed photovoltaic cells that can convert nearly 41% of the sun's rays into it into electricity. This is the latest achievement in an effort to lower the cost of solar energy production.

This success will reduce the cost of producing solar energy to $ 3 per watt of electricity, including installation costs and other costs during its operation. This is the price given by Boeing and the US Department of Energy based on the research results of Spectrolab under the auspices of the US Department of Energy. Currently, the cost to create one watt of solar energy is US $ 8, not counting government subsidies. The goal is to lower this cost to $ 1 excluding government grants.

(Artwork: Boeing.com) This photovoltaic cell achieves an efficiency of 40.7%. The US Department of Energy has funded research to find technology to help photovoltaic cells cross the 40% efficiency threshold.

Earlier this year, researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Center announced that photovoltaic cells made from new semiconductor compounds, including zinc, magnesium and tellurium, could convert about 45% of the sun's rays electricity. The technology is also partially funded by the US Department of Energy for use in the RoseStreet Laboratory in Arizona. But it takes a little longer to know whether the use of this new compound to create photovoltaic cells is economically beneficial.

Earlier this year, Sharp Solar, one of the leading solar energy companies, launched an effective photovoltaic cell of 36%. Sharp Solar's photovoltaic cells have an additional lens that converges the sun's rays and it is not made of silicon but is made of compounds of atoms of group III and group V in the table. circulating element.

Currently, silion-based photovoltaic cells can only convert 22% of solar rays into electricity and, according to current technology, the maximum efficiency of a photovoltaic cell is about 26%.

Boeing has overcome this limit by combining two technologies. One of them is to use the focused sun rays. From a practical perspective, the use of the focus layer is like creating an extra layer on the surface of photovoltaic cells.

Photovoltaic cells are made up of many different materials . Cells made of silicon compounds can only interact with a limited part of the light spectrum. Secondary layers are made of gallium arsenic compounds or other compounds that convert light in other optical regions into electricity. The creation of multi-connected photovoltaic cells from silion compounds is more expensive than producing single photovoltaic cells connected from silion compounds. So many manufacturers want to create high-performance photovoltaic cells to offset the high cost of production.

However, Boeing has yet to disclose which materials it uses to make these high-performance photovoltaic cells.

Moc Nhat