Posted on 01/15/2017 11:17:42 PM PST by aquila48
Solar cells made from an inexpensive and increasingly popular material called perovskite can more efficiently turn sunlight into electricity using a new technique to sandwich two types of perovskite into a single photovoltaic cell.
Perovskite solar cells are made of a mix of organic molecules and inorganic elements that together capture light and convert it into electricity, just like today’s more common silicon-based solar cells. Perovskite photovoltaic devices, however, can be made more easily and cheaply than silicon and on a flexible rather than rigid substrate. The first perovskite solar cells could go on the market next year, and some have been reported to capture 20 percent of the sun’s energy.
In a paper appearing online today in advance of publication in the journal Nature Materials, University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists report a new design that already achieves an average steady-state efficiency of 18.4 percent, with a high of 21.7 percent and a peak efficiency of 26 percent.
“We have set the record now for different parameters of perovskite solar cells, including the efficiency,” said senior author Alex Zettl, a UC Berkeley professor of physics, senior faculty member at Berkeley Lab and member of the Kavli Energy Nanosciences Institute. “The efficiency is higher than any other perovskite cell – 21.7 percent – which is a phenomenal number, considering we are at the beginning of optimizing this.”
“This has a great potential to be the cheapest photovoltaic on the market, plugging into any home solar system,” said Onur Ergen, the lead author of the paper and a UC Berkeley physics graduate student.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.berkeley.edu ...
>>Its real consumers are campers and preppers.
And legitimate off-grid uses. Buoys in remote areas, hunting cabins in the middle of nowhere, etc.
Perovskite solar cells are made of a mix of organic molecules and inorganic elements that together capture light and convert it into electricity.
The most efficient of these contain lead.
Yeah, that’ll work.
As good as this news is, keep in mind that solar cells will be instantly and totally destroyed by any EMP. That is due to their very construction, that is the “PN junction” they all rely upon and the current-collection grid they all must have. The voltage spike induced by the EMP cannot be mitigated by the external diodes commonly used because of the sharp rise time of the Pulse. There is NO way around this. PV cells WILL be destroyed in an EMP attack. Almost certainly the vast majority of them.
“unless you gold plate everything the Sun will continue it’s ravages. “
On Friday we’ll have the perfect President to consider that proposal.
lol...so true.
“I’ve been waiting for the real-world applications of whizz-bang tech-energy “breakthroughs” all my life, and I fear I will never see them implemented before I die.”
You may be prescient. Have fun watching this video and learn what future generations may see. I guarantee you will not be bored:
Thorium: An energy solution - THORIUM REMIX 2011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9M__yYbsZ4
“Stranks’ enthusiasm has to be tempered with some unpleasant realities. Keith Emery, who compiles the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s solar cell efficiency data, explains why perovskites need a disclaimer. “The samples degrade very quickly to zero. They degrade fast enough that it has prevented intercomparing results among groups or even having an independent efficiency measurement.” Light, air and water are all kryptonite to perovskites, according to NASDAQ.com. “
“And [thorium] still produces fissionable (U-233) that can be weaponized. As a chemist, I shudder at the potential materials problems of working with all those fluoride salts.”
Get educated:
Thorium: An energy solution - THORIUM REMIX 2011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9M__yYbsZ4
It doesn’t matter if solar cells achieve 100% efficiency. They are only active 50% of the day and most of that time they are not at peak performance due to the position of the sun.
Solar power is the ethanol of the power industry.
A solar flare that can burn a PV panel will fry the majority of gadgets that would benefit from using them. There are other calamities that can occur where you would want to have solar charging.
It’s been pointed out that PV is the second most expensive power system, only slightly less costly than having no power at all.
I won’t spend that kind of money for it but, to each his own.
I sincerely hope that we will soon be able to get most of our energy from the sun.
The biggest problem today is storage of the sun’s energy till needed. Compare to fossil fuels where the energy can be stored indefinitely. About the only way to store the sun’s energy is via batteries but that is very limited and has many problems.
Already did. I took a minor in Nuclear Science on my way to my PhD in chemistry. I had formal training in "nuclear stuff", some of which was given by professors who had worked on NERVA. I could have GIVEN that lecture.
I’d imagine similar issues with lack of standardization have occurred with early adoption of any new technology. I wonder how long it took, to standardize lightbulbs to sockets?
I see solar and other self-reliance friendly technologies as being a sort of poison pill for cronyism and corruption.
Corruption and cronyism look to pooled economic resources to tap into. A monopoly utility or large scale economic operation is the host that these parasites can latch onto. Distribute the production of energy to the single house level and the parasites have a much harder time.
Get the cost of solar cells down enough and you will want to outfit your barn, your house, and your chicken coop with them. They also need to be more modular and “idiot proof” for quick and easy installs.
Even using current technology and install costs, the case for solar cells is compelling in high energy cost areas like Hawaii. The payback there is less than 5 years, which is a pretty darn good ROI.
Ultimately that’s true. I’m sometimes disappointed with my fellow FReepers for this seemingly reflexive rejection of new technology without considering the potential upside.
For instance, you can build your own electric car right now, take a cheap car (or even a classic one), order the electric engine from mild to wild (they’re torque monsters and can be bizarrely fast), select your LiFePo4 battery pack (Lithium Iron Phosphate, very stable, does not need to be cooled nearly to the extent that some lithium batteries do, excellent longevity), select the various support componentry and make your own.
On the solar front there have been tremendous advances in materials and manufacturing. They’re cheaper and perform better than ever before. This particular materials advance sounds pie in the sky as I noted, but the technology overall can be quite beneficial on an individual level, for those in a circumstance to benefit from it.
Same with wind turbines. Trying to force fit these technologies into a mass market solution is where the error lies. It’s highly individual. If it works for you, go for it. Be free from much of the crap that’s being imposed upon us. Still not cheap, but getting cheaper. I see it as a good thing. Having more options always is, in the marketplace.
I was looking around on a custom automotive paint and coatings site last week, no conservative bastion being rather oriented to urban ride pimpers. They had several varieties of Trump Gold.
When it start to be sold w/out ‘incentives’\rebates\taxpayer funder gimmicks, or the utilities start to gripe, THEN I may start to take a gander....
Depending on your situation, solar already works and works well. If you have a remote cabin, an off the grid solar array may be a better alternative than trucking in fuel. If you live in Hawaii where energy costs are outrageous, solar is a no-brainer with a payback of less than 5 years. Note that if you incorporate the subsidies into the mix, there are about 10 states where the payback on solar is less than 10 years. So it’s here. The tech continues to improve.
I don’t do solar because in VA the economics just don’t make any sense. Yet. Conventional power is cheap, the amount of sun we get isn’t extraordinary, and we (thankfully) aren’t subsidizing solar to any great extent. Slowly but surely, though, the economics are improving.
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