“Engineers have used inexpensive materials to create a solar cell certified at a world-record 7.0 percent efficiency.”
The solar cell represents a 37 percent increase in efficiency over the previous certified record.
A breakthrough in the development of colloidal quantum dot (CQD) films allowed the researchers from the University of Toronto and King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) to develop the solar cell. Their work is featured in a letter published in Nature Nanotechnology.
“Previously, quantum dot solar cells have been limited by the large internal surface areas of the nanoparticles in the film, which made extracting electricity difficult,” says Susanna Thon, a lead co-author of the paper. “Our breakthrough was to use a combination of organic and inorganic chemistry to completely cover all of the exposed surfaces.”
Internal combustion engines typically yield efficienies of 25-30%, not that ‘efficiency’ matters. What matters is cost per unit output (i.e. kilowatt-hour) – both initial (setup) and continuing (maintenance) costs amortized over the life of the system.
Most projections I have seen assume a solar array has an unrealistic *indefinite* lifetime (over 30 years). The data has not yet shown that solar arrays are so durable.
I would hate to be the owner/operator of a solar array or wind farm during a derecho/tornado/hailstorm. Derechos can come up with almost no warning with 85 mph (135 kph) winds along a front hundreds of miles wide. Hailstorms in some areas where solar arrays are proposed can produce hailstones that will smash steel-bodied cars. EF-5 tornadoes can level buildings to the foundation on a swath a mile wide. It would take more than just a couple weeks to restore power after that.
Then there is the issue of the vulnerability to sabotage/terrorism.
Researchers find world’s tallest mole hill.
I thought current solar was around 15% to 17% and multi-frequency research units are approaching 35%. At 35% the panel become economic with a good pay-back. Otherwise they’re just toys.
This is a little misleading, because the article is about basic research into quantum dot solar cells, a possible new approach to energy conversion.
Commercially available photovoltaic panels do much better than that.
Also worth noting is that the Saudi government sponsored this.
You ought to wonder why.