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After nearly 40 years of research on a global scale, a team of scientists from the University of Manchester has finally solved a key flaw in solar panels. Due to its relative cost and consumer availability, photovoltaic power generation is currently one of the most popular renewable energy power generation systems. However, most solar cells can only achieve 20% efficiency.
Currently, an international research team has solved the critical problem of material defects that lead to limitations and reduced solar cell efficiency. This problem has been recognized and studied by people for more than 40 years, and more than 270 research papers believe that there is no solution to this problem. This new study is the first to discover a previously unknown material defect, and it is this defect that limits the efficiency of silicon solar cells.
"Due to environmental and economic impacts, the 'decrease in efficiency' of solar panels has been a topic of interest in many scientific and engineering fields for the past 40 years," said Professor Tony Pick. However, although some of the best talents in the industry are committed to solving this problem, until now, this problem has not been effectively solved. In the first few hours after installation, the efficiency of solar panels will drop from 20% to about 18%. A 2% absolute efficiency drop does n’t seem to be a big problem, but when you consider that the current share of these solar panels in global energy demand is growing exponentially, this can be a significant loss in power generation capacity. "
The energy cost caused by the global solar photovoltaic installed capacity of 10GW gap is equivalent to the total capacity of 15 nuclear power plants in the UK. Therefore, the shortage of solar energy must be filled by other less sustainable energy sources, such as burning fossil fuels.
The multidisciplinary experiments and theoretical methods adopted by the researchers have determined the mechanism of light-induced degradation (LID). The team combined a special optoelectronic technology called "deep transient spectroscopy" (DLTS) and discovered the existence of a material defect that initially lurked in the silicon used to make the battery.
The charge inside a silicon solar cell is converted under sunlight, which is part of its energy generation process. The research team found that this transition involves a defect that prevents the flow of carriers (electrons) produced by light.
Dr. Iain Crowe added: "This flow of electrons determines the amount of current that the solar cell can transmit to the circuit. Anything that hinders it will effectively reduce the efficiency of the solar cell and the amount of electricity that can be generated under certain sunshine levels. . We have already proven the existence of this defect, and now we need engineering repair. "
The industry standard technique used to determine the quality of silicon materials measures the lifetime of carriers, which is longer in low-defect high-quality materials. Researchers led by Professor Matthew Halsall of the University of Manchester found that their observations are strongly correlated with the life of the charge carrier. After the defect occurs under light, the life of the carrier is significantly reduced. They also pointed out that this effect is reversible, when the material is heated in the dark, the life will increase again, which is a commonly used defect removal process.
In recent years, the debate on the climate crisis has intensified, and promoting renewable energy is seen as a key policy change. Although the UK recently broke the record of not using coal for power generation for a week, in the same month, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere exceeded the highest level in human history.
(Original source: Renewable Energy Magazine China New Energy Network Comprehensive)
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