Solar cells do not use rare earth

To solve the problem of fossil fuels such as oil, coal, etc., is gradually depleting, in the past decades the world has invested a lot of money to exploit sustainable natural resources. like sun, wind energy ...

In that trend, IBM scientists have worked hard in the lab to develop high-performance solar cells. IBM's team recently announced that it has achieved great success when making panels from common substances in nature, with the rate of light converted into electricity up to 11.1 percent, 10% higher than the previous record.

Solar panels do not use rare earth promises
The appointment will bring 500 Gigawatt of clean energy

The CZTS technology makes panels from the most common and easy-to-exploit natural elements Copper, Zinc, Tin and Selenium. IBM researchers also hope they can develop a high-performance CZTS battery in the next few years. However, success came to them much sooner than expected when the project co-operated with Japanese manufacturers Tokyo Ohka Kogyo, DelSolar and Solar Frontier, which has successfully created a battery-forming compound containing Cu _2. ZnSn (S, Se) _4. The tests on the new battery yielded impressive results when its photovoltaic efficiency was about 20% using an artificial light source and 11.1% Direct sunlight exposure. These are the highest energy conversion ratios for solar panels that do not contain rare earths.

Due to the fact that it is made from common materials, the cost of batteries developed by IBM is much cheaper than traditional batteries. At the present time, researchers believe the CZTS battery will soon be popular in the coming years and will give the world 500 gigawatts of clean energy every year.

Reference: Engadget