Solar energy research identifies new methods to boost cell efficiency

Researchers are uncovering new methods to increase solar cell efficiency by addressing energy loss mechanisms. In Barcelona, investigators have identified a light leakage problem where radiation escapes a device before it can be converted into electricity. By controlling how radiation exits the cell, researchers suggest a theoretical efficiency could reach nearly 43 percent.

Simultaneously, researchers at the University of Paderborn in Germany, utilizing the Hawk supercomputer at the HLRS center in Stuttgart, have discovered that certain silicon defects may actually aid energy capture. Using simulations, the team found that dangling bonds at the interface between silicon and an organic semiconductor layer, such as tetracene, can facilitate singlet fission. This process allows a single high-energy photon to generate two electrons instead of one, potentially preventing energy from being lost as heat.