Quantum process in silicon nanocrystals extracts more energy from sunlight
29 March 2012 by M&C Applied SciencesLaurens Siebbeles (ChemE/OM) and his colleages published their findings on 18 March in an Advance Online Publication on the Nature Photonics website.
Reducing energy loss can greatly increase the yield of solar cells. Before the incoming sunlight can generate electricity, a large part of the energy is lost in heating up the solar cell. Now researchers from Technology Foundation STW, NanoNextNL, the University of Amsterdam and TU Delft have gained experimental insights into a quantum process in silicon nanocrystals by which excess light energy is transferred to adjacent nanocrystals, thereby avoiding energy losses to heat. The mechanism was only recently suggested. The researchers’ measurements show that the experimental behaviour is in line with the theoretical predictions. This opens the way to producing solar cells with a considerably higher yield than the 25% that is currently achieved in practice.
Read the full article at the homepage of Delft University of Technology.
