Solar Power Could Get Boost from New Light Absorption Design

Solar Power Could Get Boost from New Light Absorption Design

Nov 1, 2011 3:00 PM

Solar power may be on the rise, but solar cells are only as efficient as the amount of sunlight they collect. Under the direction of a new McCormick professor, researchers have developed a new material that absorbs a wide range of wavelengths and could lead to more efficient and less expensive solar technology.

A paper describing the findings, http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v2/n10/full/ncomms1528.html">“Broadband polarization-independent resonant light absorption using ultrathin plasmonic super absorbers,” was published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

“The solar spectrum is not like a laser – it’s very broadband, starting with UV and going up to near-infrared,” said Koray Aydin, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science and the paper’s lead author. “To capture this light most efficiently, a solar cell needs to have a broadband response. This design allows us to achieve that.”

The researchers used two unconventional materials – metal and silicon oxide – to create thin but complex, trapezoid-shaped metal gratings on the nanoscale that can trap a wider range of visible light. The use of these materials is unusual because on their own, they do not absorb light; however, they worked together on the nanoscale to achieve very high absorption rates, Aydin said.



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