Tiny 'LEGO brick' -style studs make solar panels a quarter more efficient
Friday, October 18, 2013 - 13:00
in Physics & Chemistry
Most solar cells are made using thick layers of material to absorb sunlight, but have been limited in the past by relatively high costs. Many new, lower cost designs are limited as their layer of light-absorbing material is too thin to extract enough energy. In new research, scientists have demonstrated that the efficiency of all solar panel designs could be improved by up to 22 per cent by covering their surface with aluminium studs that bend and trap light inside the absorbing layer.