New Material Heralds Unprecedented Solar Panel Efficiency

New Material Heralds Unprecedented Solar Panel Efficiency
Advertisement

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a material that comes very close to being "ideal" for solar absorption.

The material is a 2D metallic dielectric photonic crystal and has the additional benefit of absorbing sunlight from a wide range of angles and withstanding extremely high temperatures.

Perhaps most importantly, the material can also be made cheaply at large scales.

"When harnessing solar energy, you want to trap it and keep it there. Most of the Sun's energy reaches us within a specific band of wavelengths. It is a very specific window that you want to absorb in," said professor Jeffrey Chou from MIT.

"We built this structure, and found that it had a very good absorption spectrum, just what we wanted," he added.

The material is made from a collection of nanocavities and "you can tune the absorption just by changing the size of the nanocavities," Chou noted.

The material works as part of a solar-thermophotovoltaic (STPV) device.

The sunlight's energy is first converted to heat which then causes the material to glow, emitting light that can, in turn, be converted to current.

Another key characteristic of the new material is that it is well matched with existing manufacturing technology.

The paper was reported in the journal Advanced Materials.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Ubisoft Unveils Assassin's Creed Identity for iPhone and iPad
Jimmy Kimmel the Most Dangerous Cyber Celebrity of 2014: McAfee
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »