Creating low-cost solar energy
victoria-university-of-wellington
Wed Oct 08 2014 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Creating low-cost solar energy
Wednesday, 8 October 2014, 11:43 am
Press Release: Victoria University of Wellington
Creating low-cost solar energy
Victoria University of Wellington researchers are part of a worldwide effort to design cheaper and more efficient solar energy materials.
Work by PhD student Alex Barker, under the supervision of Dr Justin Hodgkiss, a senior lecturer in the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, is helping to improve the efficiency of next generation solar cells made from materials like plastics.
The research, published recently by the prestigious international Journal of the American Chemical Society, addresses the long-standing question of how light produces charge pairs far enough apart from each other that they are free to flow as current, rather than staying bound together and ultimately just releasing heat.
The technique used by the researchers was to freeze the solar cells to -263 degrees Celsius, where charge pairs get stuck together. They then used lasers to measure the how far apart they moved as the temperatures increase.
“We found that the efficiency of polymer, or plastic-based, solar cell is determined by the ability of charge pairs to rapidly escape from each other while they are still ‘hot’ from the light energy,” says Dr Hodgkiss, a 2011 Rutherford Discovery Fellow.
He adds that understanding how plastic solar cells work will result in more efficient and cheaper conductive materials that overcome the limitations of conventional solar cells.
“Because they’re plastic and flexible, they could be rolled out to cover a tent or used as semi-transparent filters on windows.”
Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
The findings of the research settle a long-standing debate about how polymer solar cells work, and offers potential to guide the design of cheaper and more efficient materials, by isolating the key step in their development.
View the full article online at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja505380j
ends
Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
a.supporter:hover {background:#EC4438!important;} @media screen and (max-width: 480px) { #byline-block div.byline-block {padding-right:16px;}}
Using Scoop for work?
Scoop is free for personal use, but you’ll need a licence for work use. This is part of our Ethical Paywall and how we fund Scoop. Join today with plans starting from less than $3 per week, plus gain access to exclusive Pro features.
Join Pro Individual Find out more
Find more from Victoria University of Wellington on InfoPages.