Solar Power

Nowadays we hear of all the rises in gas and fossil fuels, the greenhouse effect and the icecaps are melting, but the point is that our resources now are polluting and are inefficient. Alternative resources must be found not only because resources are running out, but also because the fossil fuels that are used for multiple purposes are polluting our environment. Solar power is an excellent way to provide electricity without polluting our environment. Solar power will last until the sun runs out of hydrogen and the power source is abundant, with around 1,000 watts of energy hitting each square meter of earth’s surface every day. However, the cost of converting solar energy into electricity is a major obstacle in our pursuit of energy.

Photovoltaic (PV) cells, or more commonly known as a solar cells, are used to gather solar energy and convert it into electrical energy. Today, most commercial solar cells are made from crystalline silicon. However, making a photovoltaic cell is expensive and production is slow. Even though silicon is one of the most abundant materials on earth, solar cells have to be made under controlled conditions. The creation of crystalline silicon requires a high vacuum and temperatures between 400 to 1,400 degrees Celsius.

One solution to this problem is a new, inorganic thin film solar cell. This solar cell uses two semiconductors, cadmium-selenide and cadmium-telluride, that are synthesized separately, dissolved into a solution, and spin-cast onto a conductive glass substrate. The finished panels have a efficiency of about 3% for converting sunlight into electricity. . Unfortunately, the new cell’s efficiency is still substantially lower than conventional silicon solar cell’s efficiency, which is between 18% and 25%.

Even though the efficiency of the new solar cell is weak, it’s still a big step towards better solar cells.

Courtesy of School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering,
University of New South Wales