Hybrid Solar Cell Captures Lost Energy

Oct-30-18 A new hybrid solar cell captures previously lost energy for use as electricity.

Artificial photosynthesis is a primary method of producing hydrogen for fuel cells, but the process also results in a loss of efficiency, since most of the excited electrons are trapped in the silicon.

To release the power of these electrons, the team from Berkeley developed a hybrid photoelectrochemical and voltaic (HPEV) cell. By adding a second electrical contact to the back of the silicon component, the current is split in two, allowing part of it to be captured as electricity as the water is broken into hydrogen and oxygen. According to the team, the new design has a combined efficiency of 20.2, compared to 6.8 for conventional artificial photosynthesis devices.

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