Today’s Solutions: November 22, 2024

Solar cells work by absorbing light waves, harnessing the photons’ energy to knock electrons off of atoms, thereby generating electricity. Here’s the thing, though: different light waves have different levels of energy, and current solar cells can’t use low-frequency wavelengths of light. 

That’s because most solar cells are made using silicon, which isn’t able to “respond to light less energetic than the near infrared.” Although low-frequency waves contain less energy than light with higher frequencies, finding a way for solar cells to absorb all light waves could drastically improve the efficiency of solar panels. Fortunately, there are two new innovations that could help solar cells do just that.

The first solution, published in Nature Photonics, is to use minuscule semiconductors — called quantum dots — to absorb this low-energy light. The quantum dots then use oxygen to upconvert the light waves into higher frequencies, and, voila, you’ve got light that a solar cell can now turn into power.

The other new innovation, published in Nature Energy by a team of researchers based in Japan and China, involves optimizing not the light but the solar cells themselves. Using a type of material called perovskite, these researchers are developing the next generation of solar cells. Perovskites are flexible, lightweight, and — crucially — cheaper to make than the silicon cells currently used. Perovskites have an issue, though: it’s tough to make large solar cells from them.

The researcher’s solution is to use multiple layers of the material in making larger solar cells, keeping energy loss to a minimum, and reducing the risk of toxins leaking from the cells. The next step for the researchers is to test the material on larger panels.

Solutions News Source Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

Changemakers of the week: GRuB and SparkNJ

Every day on the Optimist Daily, we report on solutions from around the world. Though we love solutions big and small, the ones that ...

Read More

The giant beneath the waves: world’s largest coral found in the Pacific

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a world where bad news about the environment routinely outweighs good news, scientists have discovered an incredible ...

Read More

Tortoise discovered in a home in Pompeii

Almost 2000 years after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and its trapping of the city of Pompeii in time, archaeologists are still making discoveries ...

Read More

Revel at the most detailed image of our universe yet

Here at The Optimist Daily, we have been sharing every exciting step of the James Webb Telescope’s journey, from its long-awaited launch, to when ...

Read More