Highly Adaptable Solar Cells
Posted in Energy Inventions | Photovoltaic Cells | Solar Power
There are two things that prevent solar cells from entering the mainstream: their prohibitive cost, and their inadaptability. Even if people can somehow overcome the cost barrier, the havoc they allegedly wreck upon buildings and houses keeps many people away from switching to non-fossil-fuel power generation, and besides, sunshine is never uniform. It varies with location, it fluctuates with the movement of the sun, and it increases and decreases in intensity as the weather changes. To justify cost and effort, people need something more stable, more dependable, and more sustainable.
The answer: space technology. Quantum Well Solar Cells from QuantaSol use a technology that has only been used in space-based applications (because space stations and satellites are constantly moving) and their solar cells have achieved a world record for the most efficient gallium arsenide (GaAs) solar cells. The greatest USP of these cells is that they can be adapted according to the location where they are being installed. This increases their efficiency manifold and allows them to generate solar energy under different and changing conditions.
These gallium arsenide solar cells can be tweaked to the prevailing light conditions of a particular place, to get the most out of the cells. To achieve this the scientists added indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) in just a few nanometers wide layers; these layers are called quantum wells. These wells can absorb light to produce electric current at specific frequencies.
This is where the cells can be tuned according to specific frequencies.
Semiconductor materials such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) are far more effective while converting light to electricity compared to the cheaper silicon cells most common today. The company plans to launch the product into the market but before that it wants to bring its cost significantly down.