Scientists developed an innovative dye-sensitized solar cell

More power from sunlight.

Sun is one of the most important ‘green’ energy source available in abundant in the form of sunlight. The sunlight can be transformed into electricity using solar cells, which consists of silicon layers. Solar cells are technically advanced and relatively cost-effective but they have one disadvantage: they can reach a maximum efficiency of just 33 percent.

Now, FAU scientists addressed this issue by developing a process called singlet fission, which can be used to significantly boost the performance of solar cells. Using the process, scientists were able to double the number of electrons excited by incoming photons.

Scientists used the principle of singlet fission, in which one incoming photon excites not one, but two electrons. The standard itself isn’t new, yet as of not long ago, the procedure has just possessed the capacity to be demonstrated in solutions or highly crystalline materials, making it not particularly well-suited for use in solar modules.

Together with scientific experts at the University of Alberta, Canada, the researchers from Erlangen have now prevailed with regards to making a more practical structure. They synthesized a novel pentacene particle, a hydrocarbon compound in a solid state express that goes about as a natural color and assimilates sunlight. The pentacene is joined with a photoelectrode comprising of indium-zinc oxide and an electrolyte made of lithium and iodine.

As indicated by Dr. Andreas Kunzmann, ‘this structure enables singlet fission to push ahead from the domains of fundamental research to handy application.’

Singlet fission in dye-sensitized solar cells could in principle prompt twice as much inside vitality yield contrasted with regular silicon cells. At the display, the physicists from Erlangen right now achieve a normal of 130 percent.

Dr. Kunzmann said, “At the moment we are keeping the charge very low, as exciting electrons in neighboring molecules at the same time still leads to an unacceptably high loss of energy. We can increase efficiency once we are able to better control these loss processes. At the same time, the researchers are working to make their invention more durable and suited to the requirements of industrial production.”

The results were published in the renowned scientific journal ‘Angewandte Chemie’.

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