Increasing the Efficiency of Solar Cells

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Increasing the Efficiency of Solar Cells
By: Kyle Wang


 Researchers at KAUST have recently developed thin-film contacts that is supposed to increase the efficiency of solar cells. In order to this, the researchers did many things, including improving the crystalline quality of the absorbing material to "maximize the conversion of photons to negatively charged electrons and positively charged holes (Phys). The device must also be structured in a way that allows the charge carriers to move more efficiently throughout the material. Finally, the "transfer of carriers from the cell to the external circuit must be fixed" (CMFE News).

Thin film contacts are built for the silicon solar cells. However, silicon and a metal contact create a high-resistant barrier, or an insulator making it hard to make the electricity current to flow through. Traditionally, these problems were fixed with expensive processes, such as diffusion and chemical-vapor deposition. Instead, KAUST combated these problems by using electron-selective tantalum-nitride contacts, which would simultaneously "reduce the charge carrier recombination and contact resistance" (Phys).


What makes these solar cells so efficient are the new electron-selective tantalum-nitride contacts. In fact, it improved the power conversion efficiency -- the ratio between the electrical power out and the optical power in -- by more than 20 percent! They even simplified the process and costs by skipping steps like doping and contact opening processes.


Thin films for more efficient solar cells
The New and Improved Solar Cells!

The world is changing at a much faster rate, then it ever was. The creation of certain technologies lead to the creation of improved technologies, starting from the European Renaissance, or maybe even earlier. Creating more efficient solar cells is no different. While constant improvement is good, we should still be careful. The dangers of technology is one that no man has never experienced before, and if not used carefully, the consequences can be detrimental.





Sources:
https://cmfenews.com/efficient-solar-cells-through-thin-film-formation/
https://phys.org/news/2018-10-thin-efficient-solar-cells.html
Efficient Solar Cells
On a building!

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