Solar cells break 40% Efficiency

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Posted by: mac, on 8/13/2007, in category "Industry - New Technologies"
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Location: Los Angeles, CA, United States

Abstract: Boeing's Spectrolab, Inc. broke the 40% mark last Dec. but has been outdistanced by more than 2% by a consortium led by the University of Delaware in July 2007.

The new record is significant in that the Boeing advance required a “concentrator” to funnel light at the cell. The new UD device is a more traditional crystalline silicon solar cell (albeit a very efficient one), in that it does not require the concentration of the sun’s rays as the Boeing solution.

"The highly efficient VHESC solar cell uses a novel lateral optical concentrating system that splits solar light into three different energy bins of high, medium and low, and directs them onto cells of various light sensitive materials to cover the solar spectrum. The system delivers variable concentrations to the different solar cell elements. The concentrator is stationary with a wide acceptance angle optical system that captures large amounts of light and eliminates the need for complicated tracking devices."

The truly amazing part of this advancement was the relatively short time required to achieve this breakthrough efficiency, 21 months!

The Article can be viewed at
UD-led team sets solar cell record