Researchers find another way to harvest solar energy
Engineers at Stanford University have discovered a new way to harvest light and thermal energy produced by the Sun. An article published in the Nature Materials journal shows that the cesium coating of solar cell semiconductor material allows the cell to use the light and heat to produce electricity.
According to the idea that the more heat, the less efficient photovoltaic solar panels tend to be, researchers have developed a process known as photon enhanced thermionic emission, or PETE, who theoretically could use waste heat to improve photovoltaic efficiency up to 50 percent.
PETE solar cell unites in one component quantum mechanism of solar cells, where the photons excite the electrons, with the thermal mechanism, which uses concentrated sunlight as a source of energy to produce electricity indirectly through a heat engine.
Scientists who tested cesium gallium nitride coated PETE device inside a vacuum chamber are also studying other conductive materials such as gallium arsenide.
Many photovoltaic solar cells become less effective under conditions of greater than 100 degrees Celsius. But Pete reaches its maximum efficiency in more than 200 ° C, the researchers said. This bodes well for the potential of PETE and solar concentrators, such as parabolic trough collectors.
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