The efficiency of graphene panels has been increased. Free Technical Library News

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The efficiency of graphene panels is increased

08.06.2012

Physicists from the University of Florida have set a new efficiency record for graphene solar cells. This achievement allows us to consider graphene solar panels as a promising source of clean electricity.

Graphene solar panels are very attractive due to their low price and exceptional durability. However, all previous attempts to use a single-atom carbon lattice in solar panels were not crowned with particular success - the efficiency of converting sunlight into electricity did not exceed 2,9%. This is too small for the commercial use of graphene in solar energy.

American scientists for the first time managed to achieve a record efficiency rate of 8,6% thanks to the "doping" in the form of additive trifluoromethanesulfonylamide (TFSA). The impurity increases the conductivity of graphene and, accordingly, increases the efficiency of converting sunlight into electricity. Unlike other admixtures that have been tried in the past, TFSA is stable and ensures a long life for a new solar panel.

So far, prototype solar cells made of graphene are small and are small 5-mm silicon plates coated with a monolayer of graphene. Graphene and silicon form the so-called Schottky transition (one-way electron motion), which, when illuminated by light, acts as an energy conversion zone in any solar cell. Typically, a Schottky junction is formed by adding a layer of metal to the top of a semiconductor. However, the researchers found that the metal can be replaced with transparent graphene, which is much more promising in terms of increasing the efficiency of solar panels.

Scientists believe that in the near future they will be able to increase the efficiency of graphene solar panels up to 10%. This is already enough to promote the novelty to the commercial market. The new panels will be really cheap to mass-produce, and instead of silicon, a flexible polymer substrate can be used, which will expand the scope of solar panels.

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