Caltech flexible solar panel 86% efficiency plastic/metal

[BiGH]

Caltech has released a flexible solar array that converts 95% of single-wavelength incandescent light and 86% of all sunlight into electricity. Instead of being flat-panel, they stand thin silicon wires in a plastic substrate that scatters the light onto them. The total composition is 98% plastic, 2% wire — the amount of silicon used is 1/50th that of ordinary panels. So as soon as they can get these to market, solar could be very viable and cheap to produce.

(stolen from Slashdot.org)

http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/13325

awesome time to put these on top of our cars, houses and build the distributed grid

edit: title should b 86% efficiency

 

[maydaverave]

If true thats prett frickin amazing. Like all these amazing technologies I am always reading about I will believe it when I see it.

 

[John in CR]

If true thats prett frickin amazing. Like all these amazing technologies I am always reading about I will believe it when I see it.

Yeah, with that kind of efficiency we can easily have ebikes that never need charging. If we get both this along with one of the super capacitor claims to come true, the world can be a very different and better place by 2020 because they will drive down prices of existing PV and battery technologies. Even without any of the cutting edge new claims becoming a reality, I see the inevitable change to come by 2025 or certainly by 2030, and as quickly as medicine is advancing even the oldest of our forum members have a chance to enjoy to new world. The computer revolution of the past 15yrs pales in comparison to the coming energy revolution.

John

 

[swbluto]

Dude, seriously? SERIOUSLY? It seems researchers we're LUCKY to even get to 40-50% efficiency and now, all of a sudden, 80+ % efficiency has been hit? That seems too miraculous. I have a feeling the definition of "efficiency" is being a little skewed.

 

[Lock]

This is very cool. "...The silicon-wire arrays absorb up to 96 percent of incident sunlight at a single wavelength and 85 percent of total collectible sunlight."

I believe panels to date have only been able to use a fairly narrow band of the light spectrum while this tech seems to be able to use almost all, so this might explain a large part of any efficiency leap...
loCc

 

[John in CR]

With those silicon wires arrayed in that manner, the claim at least makes some sense with the idea of near total absorption and little turned into heat. The flipside is that currently the best multi-paned solar absorbers don't do much better than retaining 50% of solar input. There the issue quickly becomes radiation back out in the IR spectrum, but if such a large chunk of that received is converted to electricity by the silicon wires, then radiation becomes a moot point since there's little heat.

John

 

[swbluto]

This is very cool. "...The silicon-wire arrays absorb up to 96 percent of incident sunlight at a single wavelength and 85 percent of total collectible sunlight."

I believe panels to date have only been able to use a fairly narrow band of the light spectrum while this tech seems to be able to use almost all, so this might explain a large part of any efficiency leap...
loCc

Possibly, but the definition of "collectible sunlight" might be special. I'm still skeptical.

 

[gestalt]

Isn't current consumer grade techs percentage somewhere in the teens? I believe nasa grade is in the thirties and costs a fortune. I share maydaverave's skepticism and lamentations of vaporware, though with efficiency like that you really could have viable solar charges build into about any vehicle that could actually make a difference.

 

[Lock]

...viable solar charges build into about any vehicle that could actually make a difference.

Like, a square meter of this stuff on an ebike. Sunny day and ya don't need a battery at all... 8)
Lock

 

[voicecoils]

It was simply misreported.

Hit slashdot for details.

Light trapping efficiency is not the same as PV efficiency.

 

[Lock]

Ah well, that was fun while it lasted... MIT has a saner article here:
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/24665/?a=f

"Computational models suggest that the material could be used to make solar cells that would convert 15 to 20 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity--on par with existing high-performance silicon cells. But the material would require just 1 percent of the materials used today, potentially leading to a dramatic decrease in costs."

""What's exciting is, you can use a lot less material to make a solar cell--two orders of magnitude less," says Yi Cui, professor of materials science at Stanford University. This will do more than just lower the material's costs. "Once you use less material for deposition, your manufacturing line is shorter," Cui explains. This has two business implications: it should take less capital investment to build the factories needed to make the cells, and it should be possible to produce them at a faster rate."

"Atwater's group is now working on making the photovoltaic material over a larger area and incorporating it into prototype solar cells. The results published so far come from proof of concept experiments using square centimeters of the material. "We have to do the normal unglamorous engineering: making low-resistance electrical contacts, and making large areas, hundreds of square centimeters," says Atwater. He adds that although the material is put together in a novel way, it can be made using a combination of techniques that are well established and scalable."

tks
LoC

 

[swbluto]

Ah well, that was fun while it lasted... MIT has a saner article here:
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/24665/?a=f

"Computational models suggest that the material could be used to make solar cells that would convert 15 to 20 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity--on par with existing high-performance silicon cells. But the material would require just 1 percent of the materials used today, potentially leading to a dramatic decrease in costs."

""What's exciting is, you can use a lot less material to make a solar cell--two orders of magnitude less," says Yi Cui, professor of materials science at Stanford University. This will do more than just lower the material's costs. "Once you use less material for deposition, your manufacturing line is shorter," Cui explains. This has two business implications: it should take less capital investment to build the factories needed to make the cells, and it should be possible to produce them at a faster rate."

"Atwater's group is now working on making the photovoltaic material over a larger area and incorporating it into prototype solar cells. The results published so far come from proof of concept experiments using square centimeters of the material. "We have to do the normal unglamorous engineering: making low-resistance electrical contacts, and making large areas, hundreds of square centimeters," says Atwater. He adds that although the material is put together in a novel way, it can be made using a combination of techniques that are well established and scalable."

tks
LoC

That's good. Substantially cheaper solar arrays should make them cost competitive with existing energy sources, so this could turn out to be "revolutionary". Last time I've heard, solar arrays we're only cost competitive in the San Diego area (Having reached so-called "grid parity") so far.

 

[Lock]

Last time I've heard, solar arrays we're only cost competitive in the San Diego area (Having reached so-called "grid parity") so far.

Try this. Gov of Ontario Canada currently paying 80.2 cents/kWh fixed contract for 20yrs on a PV install less than 10kW in size...
http://microfit.powerauthority.on.ca/pdf/microFIT-Program-Overview.pdf


loK