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New Solar Cell from Readily Available Materials

Breakthrough:
A breakthrough in solar cell technology. IBM produce a new kind of solar cell made from abundant materials that has achieved record breaking energy efficiencies.

Business:
IBM

The Story:
IBM has set a new world record for solar cell technology. It has built a solar cell from abundant materials that can convert 9.6 percent of solar energy to electrical energy, a 40 percent boost over current methods, and one that holds the potential of producing more energy efficient cells at lower cost.

Previous attempts to create solar cells from compounds free of gallium or cadmium have not been able to top 6.7 percent efficiency.

Abundant Materials

The 9.6 percent efficiency level is already exceeded by commercial silicon-based cells and thin-film solar cells (most thin film solar cells based upon compound semiconductors operate at 9 to 11 percent efficiency levels) but IBM’s intent with this research was to make a solar cell out of easily available materials.

The multinational believes the use of rarer components for current solar technologies puts a limit on their long-term potential.

Solar Cell Problems

According to IBM researchers the problems with solar cells that are made from components such as cadmium and tellurium are either their scarcity or environmental impact. This means that other materials will have to be found to cope with predicted renewable energy demands.

In IBM’s new research which was published in the journal Advanced Materials the main layer that absorbs the sun’s rays and converts it into electricity is made from copper (Cu), tin (Sn), zinc (Zn), sulfur (S), and/or selenium (Se).

The research paper highlighted the potential of the thin-film photovoltaic technology to produce low-cost energy that could be used widely and commercially.

Quest for Low-Cost Energy Production

More energy from the sun strikes the Earth in any given hour than is consumed by the planet in an entire year. But according to Dr. David Mitzi, who leads the team at IBM Research that developed the groundbreaking solar cell, less than 0.1 percent of electricity is supplied by solar cells, and the main reason for this is cost.

"The quest to develop a solar technology that can compare on a cost per watt basis with the conventional electricity generation, and also offer the ability to deploy at the terawatt level, has become a major challenge that our research is moving us closer to overcoming."

IBM also changed the way the solar cell was manufactured. Conventional techniques generally use an expensive vacuum-based technique, but IBM researchers used a combination of solution and nanoparticle-based approaches which ultimately are expected to lower fabrication costs.

Future Plans

The scientists working on this project believe the efficiency of their cell can be boosted still further to 12 percent. IBM has no current plans to manufacture solar technologies, but it is willing to partner with solar cell manufacturers and license the technology to them.

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