Solar-cell efficiency boosted by folds and wrinkles

Solar cells constructed with microscopic leaf-like folds and wrinkles can produce 47% more electricity than similar flat cells – according to the researchers in the US who made the wrinkled cells. The team has also shown that the devices can exploit a wider range of the solar spectrum and are considerably more robust than their flat counterparts.

Crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells have been around for more than 50 years, but they are fragile, expensive and labour intensive to produce. Devices made from organic plastic semiconductors are flexible, lightweight and cheap, but they are less efficient. In order to make them commercially viable, scientists have been trying to boost the efficiency of plastic solar cells from just a few per cent towards 10–15% – compared with crystalline silicon devices, which have an efficiency of about 20%. Recently, a team at UCLA created organic cells with an efficiency of 10.6%, and the new leaf-mimicking technique could offer a way to increase that value still further. (...)

The work is described in Nature Photonics.

Source: physicsworld.comAdded: 11 May 2012