It is an exciting time in the solar industry right now, with various breakthroughs and discoveries made lately that are making great strides in the quest for better and better solar cells.

Here’s an overview of some of the ingenious ways that scientists from around the world, including our Australian researchers, are developing to make solar energy and solar pv technology more viable and cost effective;

Thin Film Solar Cells

Scientists have discovered that thinner solar cells are capable of trapping more sunlight than traditional arrays of solar cells. By making them thinner and intentionally roughing the surface of the cells, it enables the light to bounce inside the cell, which results in better absorption and efficiency.

Thinner solar cells are also cheaper to manufacture, an improve the absorption of electrons also to further boost efficiency and output. University of New South Wales professor Martin Green recently revealed that this breakthrough will also serve as a backbone to organic semi-conductors and even plastic solar cells.

Though plastic is not an ideal material for solar panel arrays Professor Green said that the thickness that the researchers are dealing with will allow plastic to work because of the low optical density that the thin solar cell processing will require.

Nano-sized solar cells

Recently Australian researchers invented a nano-sized solar cell which is only about 1/100^th the size of an average solar cell found in regular solar panels. These solar cells, or quantum dots, are made from cadmium telluride, which has very good light absorbing characteristics.

The quantum dots are so small that they can be suspended in a liquid medium. This will allow solar manufacturers to directly mass produce roofing materials that have built in solar cells, and they will be a cheaper price because of the less complex process.

The reduced size of the quantum dots hasn’t greatly compromised their efficiency rate; researchers said that these new solar cells have an efficiency rate of 12% against the current 18% of traditional solar panels. This improved technology will not be limited by your available roof spaces though, so more energy can be produced per home.

Stacked printable Solar cells

Lead researcher Dr. Udo Bach from the Monash University in Melbourne, in collaboration with the University of Ulm in Germany, discovered that stacked printable solar cells are capable of producing more energy than a single active electrode solar cell.

Dr. Bach explained that printable solar cells already have 2 electrodes stacked on each other, however one of them is inactive. The breakthrough is that Dr. Bach and his team found a way to replace that inactive electrode with an active one, thereby making it more efficient.

Although this technology is still under extensive research and development because of its relatively low efficiency rate compared to today’s solar panels, researchers believe that due to the fact that it can be printed onto cheap polymers this technology will someday revolutionise the solar industry.

3-D solar panels

Dr Zhong Wang of the Georgia Institute of Technology, together with US scientists, is now developing the so called “3-D” solar panels, which use fibre optic technology instead of typical solar cells.

The fibre optics work by collecting sunlight into the protruding tip, and as the light travels down the length of the cable the zinc oxide inside converts it into electricity. The two stage conversion process allows the zinc oxide to also convert any missed light during the first stage for increased output.

Currently the technology has an efficiency rate of 3.3%, which as an example means that a 10 watt light bulb will be powered per 4 inches of fibre optics……..so we won’t be powering cities with it any time soon, but no doubt these results will be steadily improved.

While mostly still in the development phase these innovations in solar power promise an exciting and better future for us, with clean sustainable  solar energy sources becoming cheaper and more effective, plus the bonus of greatly reducing carbon emissions around the world as their use becomes widespread.