New coating
(solar panel)
Researchers at Rensselaer Institute of technology developed a new coating in 2008. Covering it on solar panels can improve the sunlight absorption rate of the latter to 96.2%, while the sunlight absorption rate of ordinary solar panels is only about 70%.
The new coating mainly solves two technical problems: one is to help the solar panel absorb almost all the solar spectrum, and the other is to make the solar panel absorb sunlight from a larger angle, so as to improve the efficiency of solar panel absorbing sunlight.
Ordinary solar panels can only absorb part of the solar spectrum, and usually work efficiently only when absorbing direct sunlight. Therefore, many solar devices are equipped with automatic adjustment systems to ensure that the solar panels always maintain the angle with the sun that is most conducive to the amount of energy absorbed.
Plant material
(solar panel)
On February 18, 2013, a Japanese research team developed a new type of
solar panel with wood pulp as raw material. This "paper paste" solar cell is environmentally friendly, cheap, ultra-thin and flexible, and may be of great use in the future.
In order to ensure light transmittance, solar panels usually use transparent glass or plastic. The research team led by Neng muyaya, associate professor of the Institute of Industrial Sciences of Osaka University, successfully developed a transparent material with a thickness of only 15 nm by compression processing with the plant fibers in wood pulp as raw materials, and used this as a substrate to embed the photoelectric conversion organic materials and wiring pressure, so as to make paper solar cells.
It is said that the photoelectric conversion efficiency of "paper paste" solar cells is only 3%(solar panel), which is far less than the conversion rate of 10% to 20% of ordinary solar cells for power generation. However, it is similar to glass substrate solar cells. It is portable and easy to use, simple to manufacture and extremely low cost. Developers hope to be practical in a few years.