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New Solar Cell Sets World Efficiency Record
asoduk writes to tell us that a new world record has been set for the most efficient photovoltaic device. Topping the scale at 40.8% efficiency, the new solar cell differs significantly from the previous record holder. "Instead of using a germanium wafer as the bottom junction of the device, the new design uses compositions of gallium indium phosphide and gallium indium arsenide to split the solar spectrum into three equal parts that are absorbed by each of the cell's three junctions for higher potential efficiencies. This is accomplished by growing the solar cell on a gallium arsenide wafer, flipping it over, then removing the wafer. The resulting device is extremely thin and light and represents a new class of solar cells with advantages in performance, design, operation and cost."
We'll have fusion by then. Electricity too cheap to meter ;-)
cool? yes, but only in the most esoteric sense. I've said MANY times before, fantastic new photovoltaic technology is announced every 6 months or so, NONE of it ever reaches the market. Call me when the ROI on home solar breaks the 20 year mark in my area. Right now it's almost 100 years.
At 40%, you're talking about 400W when in direct sunlight. With eight hours of sunlight per day the average house needs less than four square metres. Now, of course, you aren't going to be using the most power at the times when these are generating, but it can definitely put a significant dent in your electricity bills.
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Was taking forever to load, so here's the article:
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have set a world record in solar cell efficiency with a photovoltaic device that converts 40.8 percent of the light that hits it into electricity. This is the highest confirmed efficiency of any photovoltaic device to date.
The inverted metamorphic triple-junction solar cell was designed, fabricated and independently measured at NREL. The 40.8 percent efficiency was measured under concentrated light of 326 suns. One sun is about the amount of light that typically hits Earth on a sunny day. The new cell is a natural candidate for the space satellite market and for terrestrial concentrated photovoltaic arrays, which use lenses or mirrors to focus sunlight onto the solar cells.
The new solar cell differs significantly from the previous record holder - also based on a NREL design. Instead of using a germanium wafer as the bottom junction of the device, the new design uses compositions of gallium indium phosphide and gallium indium arsenide to split the solar spectrum into three equal parts that are absorbed by each of the cell's three junctions for higher potential efficiencies. This is accomplished by growing the solar cell on a gallium arsenide wafer, flipping it over, then removing the wafer. The resulting device is extremely thin and light and represents a new class of solar cells with advantages in performance, design, operation and cost.
NREL's Mark Wanlass invented the original inverted cell, which recently won a R&D 100 award. His design was modified by a team led by John Geisz that further optimized the junction energies by making the middle junction metamorphic as well as the bottom junction. Metamorphic junctions are lattice mismatched - their atoms don't line up. The material properties of the mismatched semiconductors allows for greater potential conversion of sunlight.
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by Midwest Research Institute and Battelle.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12/new_world_recor.php
TFA is slashdotted, but a little googling shows this happened two years ago.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
We will have solar energy as soon as the utility companies solve one technical problem -- how to run a sunbeam through a meter.
They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
Unless you grind them up and snort them you're probably safe.
There is more than one company who claims to be on the way to $1/Watt.
But right now, subsidies in Germany are so high that PV vendors can sell for more than $1/Watt, and find customers. So you will get $1/Watt on the end user market when the German market is saturated, which will probably take a few more years.
On the upside, we Germans essentially pay for the development of all those nice improved PV cells, because our subsidies guarantee a market ;-)
C - the footgun of programming languages
Alternatively, you can use a Fresnel lens instead of a mirror.
Good, we can just hook the generator up to him! :)
The new cell produces enough electricity that if you covered a football field with them, it would be enough power to run an Olympic swimming pool full of hard drives. The additional electricity these cell provide compared to the previous record holder would allow you to copy several libraries-of-congress per second faster to your pool full of drives.
Hope this helps.
The previous record holder was 40.7%
I'm not sure why this is here, this was a press release in Mid august.
Fission very well could be, but half-vast fission we've been saddled with as a result of the Carter administration's (the one president who should've known better, btw, what with his degree in nuclear engineering) machinations.
Things tend to cost a lot more when you throw away (and have to devise elaborate means to protect yourself from) 98% of your fuel as "waste" because you don't want terrorists to be able to make nuclear bombs.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
I'm just curious-- not implying that your calculations are wrong. I'm at the extreme other end in Arizona, and payback appears to be in the 10-15 year range for us, not counting resale and using a constant price for power for the next 15 years. That's well within the system warranty time, but may still be a bit too much for people to pay for up front.
Payback speed depends heavily on your local utility, their rates, their incentives, and whether they allow net-metering over the entire year, or just monthly. It also depends on whether or not you are willing to consider resale value as part of your payback time.
I suspect Hawaii is even better than Arizona despite having more cloudy days, just because power is so freaking expensive there.
In the long run, I think leases will win out. A couple of companies are offering deals where you lease the system and panels, and they promise your new smaller electric bill plus the lease cost will be lower than your current electric bill. A deal like this makes things suddenly interesting to people who don't have $20k to drop up front.
These things will be *very* expensive, I'll guess that the main application will be in spacecraft solar panels.
First, they use gallium, which is an expensive material. Second, from the description in the summary (TFA is slashdotted), they do one side, then flip it over and etch the backside to get at the junction from the back. Seems like a costly manufacturing process.
How much do they cost and when can I get some?
If the goal here is to move away fom the consumption of materials in short supply, solar cells based on gallium and indium aren't going to help. We had a world-wide gallium shortage at the turn of the millenium, and that only receeded because demand slacked off some. There is currently a shortage of indium that started in 2007.
Both of these elements are hard to come by because they are not just rare, but sparsely distributed. Indium is produced from lead, zinc, and tin production waste, and I think gallium mostly from aluminum production waste. I'm sure supply will increase over time, but we can't quickly ramp up production of either element by "mining more".
Niether of these elements would remain economical if there were a sharp spike in demand.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Price gouging: Not enough of it.
Can you be Even More Awesome?!
they get roughly 32 rods per hogshead. divide that by the current vegas odds of the LHC finding the higgs boson vs sucking the world into a micro black hole, and you'll realize that is one hell of a burrito for only $700b.
Wait a minute. What was this thread about again?
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." - Napoleon Bonaparte
Too bad there isn't a "-1 Incoherent" mod.
I don't see the problem. All we need to do is develop a cheap, efficient form of fusion to create the exotic elements we need so that we can produce these solar cells to provide a new source of cheap, efficient energy.
Maybe it's time we start mining the landfills.