JinkoSolar, one of the largest manufacturers of solar panels, has achieved an important milestone in the development of solar cells using the material perovskite. The company managed to convert 33.84 percent of the incident sunlight into electricity. That is a new record for this type of solar cell.
To put this into perspective, traditional solar panels convert about 15 to 22 percent of sunlight into electricity. These ‘normal’ panels are made of silicon, the same material that is also used in computer chips, among other things.
The new one solar cell from JinkoSolar combines two different materials to extract more energy from sunlight. On top of a layer of silicon, the researchers applied a layer of perovskite. Perovskite is a crystal-like material that can capture sunlight very efficiently. By combining these two layers, the solar cells can better utilize different parts of the sunlight.
Longevity is a concern
The Shanghai Institute of Microsystems and Information Technology, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, independently confirmed the achievement. The new record surpasses JinkoSolar’s previous record of 33.24 percent.
Although this technology is promising, there are still challenges. Perovskite is sensitive to damage when exposed to wind and weather. Before these solar cells can be applied on a large scale, this problem still needs to be solved.
Possibly a big step forward
The technology has a lot of potential for the future. Scientists estimate that these combined solar cells can theoretically convert up to 43 percent of sunlight into electricity. This would represent a huge step forward in generating sustainable energy.
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Source: www.bright.nl
