Carbon solar cells updates

Experts say that solar cells made from organic material achieved a 15 percent efficiency, placing them in the scale of solar panels on the market. They believe that they  an improve on the 15 percent efficiency to 18 percent. The 15 percent threshold is vital since renewable energy manufacturers can create more economical and flexible solar cells. Traditional  solar cells are created with silicon. The carbon cells are cheaper and much more straightforward to fabricate instead of manufactured rectangles. 
 

15 percent efficiency changes things

At 15 percent efficiency, researchers strongly believe that the solar cells could create electricity for less than 7 cents per kWh. In 2017, the average price to make electricity in the U.S. was 10.5 cents per kWh. This refers to utilities and the costs due to creating energy and bringing it to the community. More than 3.5 cent kWh drop is potentially game-changing. This will cut the cost of the product and solar installation bottom line. Every time the price reduces the amount of installations increase. The industry has been aware of these cells but quite some time, but since the efficiency was noted to be 11 or 12 percent for years ago, the talk was tabled for a longer period of time. When experts restructured the cells, surprisingly the cells absorb more visible and invisible light  that increased their efficiency from 11 percent to 15 percent. Stacking  cells needs an updated process because it needs to create the first layer of cells, then add another layer on top without dissolving or damaging the bottom layer with the liquid. This is applied to concoct the second layer of cells. Another achievement is that the process has a high fabrication yield of over 95 percent which translates to 95 percent success rate. This rate is crucial when adapting to the home and commercial market. If Solar fabricators know that this new process is easier, less, expensive, and nearly 100 percent fail-safe, then overall adoption will be sooner.  
 

Carbon cells commerically 

The team thinks that they can move the needle a bit more to 18 percent efficiency,  increasing electric current, and minimize energy loss to increase the voltage and efficiency. Based on their pace of findings, it won’t be too long till the carbon solar cells reach this efficiency rate. To be commercially viable, says Shenqiang Ren, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Kansas, their efficiency must cross 10 percent. Ren’s lab set the conversion-efficiency record for solar cells at 1.3 percent this September, in work that appeared in ACS Nano. That’s about how well the first polymer solar cells performed, he notes.

If you want to move into the future and join the solar revolution, or if you want to find out what solar panels are right for you, go to HahaSmart.com and try our price checker tool. You can see how much a system will cost, and how much you can save over the next 20 years. For more information relating to going solar, don't forget to visit our solar blog section for more handy guides and articles.