Wayne Hicks04.15.18
Kai Zhu, a researcher at the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), spent a decade trying to wrest the highest possible efficiencies from dye-sensitized solar cells. “Work on the traditional dye cell was not going well,” he recalled. “It was relatively flat in terms of performance. People in the field were frustrated.”
Initially able to convert 7% of sunlight into electricity, dye cells ticked upward to about 11% in 2004 and held fast. Despite the best efforts of scientists around the world, perovskites couldn’t catch up—or even get close—to the above-20% efficiencies dominated by silicon solar panels.
Then, because research requires thinking about problems differently, some scientists tried supplementing the dye cells with organic-inorganic hybrid crystalline materials: perovskites. The combination captured more of the sun’s energies but increased the efficiency only by a few percen
Continue reading this story and get 24/7 access to The Independent Global Source for the Flexible and Printed Electronics Industry. for FREE
Stay ahead of the fast growing field of flexible and printed electronics, an emerging industry that promises to revolutionize the methods in which electronic components and systems are manufactured. Flexible and printed electronics covers smart packaging and labels, sensors and wearables, solar cells, displays and lighting, batteries, medical devices, military equipment, and much more.
FREE SUBSCRIPTION
