Solar Cell Hits High efficiency, Can Power Remote Locations

Another day towards greener future has passed and researchers over Aalto University with Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya has managed to boost the efficiency of solar cell by 4 percentages on nanostructured silicon solar cells. These solar cells are also referred as ‘Black Silicon’. These solar cells can convert solar energy to usable energy (electrical) with an efficiency of 22.1%. The Black silicon is far better at collecting light from the sun at low angles and thus can be used in northern regions where it is common.

This is an advantage particularly in the north, where the sun shines from a low angle for a large part of the year. We have demonstrated that in winter Helsinki, black cells generate considerably more electricity than traditional cells even though both cells have identical efficiency values, Professor Hele Savin said. In the near future, the goal of the team is to apply the technology to other cell structures – in particular, thin and multi-crystalline cells.

The new Black Silicon is expected to be cheap and good for mass production. It can replace the current solar cell and should reach the end market soon. It is going to be a very useful tool to produce electricity in remote locations where power supply via grid is not yet possible. We currently do not have any more information on any release date, but we will keep you up to date as soon as we do.

Thank you Nature for providing us with this information.