Scientists Develop New Flexible Solar Cell With Superior Performance to Silicon Solar Panels

Written by Valdemar Medeiros

Published on 11/09/2021 at 14:14

As células solares flexíveis CIGS consistem em camadas muito finas e incluem um composto dos elementos cobre, índio, gálio e selênio. As camadas são depositadas sobre substratos poliméricos flexíveis em sistemas industriais rolo a rolo. [Imagem: Empa]

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The Latest Innovation Is From The Swiss Laboratory EMPA, Which Managed To Improve And Develop A New Type Of Solar Cell With Performance Superior To Silicon Solar Panels

Scientists from the Swiss laboratory EMPA have created a new flexible solar energy cell and set a historic record in terms of efficiency. The product, which performs better than silicon solar panels, can be made in plastic films and through inkjet printing, known as CIGS. This acronym stands for the initials of the materials used in the construction of the solar cell. The materials are: Copper, Indium, Gallium, and Selenium.

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The solar cell created by the EMPA scientists is made up of very thin layers that are placed on flexible polymer substrates in industrial systems. The application of CIGS is done on roofs and building facades, portable electronic devices, vehicles, and other similar uses.

The solar energy cells created by the scientists were processed into a polymer film through the low-temperature co-evaporation method. This method serves to cultivate thin films of a semiconductor, which is responsible for absorbing light.

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Flexible Solar Panels Could Revolutionize the Renewable Market

The historic efficiency record set by the German scientists was 21.4%, an excellent percentage compared to solar panels made of crystalline silicon.

Crystalline silicon cells, besides not being able to bend and requiring heavy solar panels to convert radiation into energy, have an efficiency of 26.7%. The scientists from the Swiss laboratory have been breaking new records over several years. Check the records below:

12.8% (1999)
14.1% (2005)
17.6% (2010)
18.7% (2011)
20.4% (2013)
20.8% (2019)
21.4% (2021)

Currently, scientists are working alongside the company Flisom, with the mission of manufacturing rolls of flexible and lightweight solar energy modules.

New Solutions for the Solar Market

New solutions to continually enhance the consumer experience with solar energy are emerging worldwide, and Brazil is not left out of these innovations. The CSEM Brazil Institute has been creating an organic solar panel for over 10 years at its applied research center located in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.

The Institute aims to obtain green energy in all segments, including in the production of the panel itself. The new material, when produced on a large scale, could be 30 times cheaper than traditional silicon solar energy panels. The product is still in the testing phase, and specific machines have already been built and adapted for the printing process.

Scientists Develop New Flexible Solar Cell With Superior Performance to Silicon Solar Panels

The Latest Innovation Is From The Swiss Laboratory EMPA, Which Managed To Improve And Develop A New Type Of Solar Cell With Performance Superior To Silicon Solar Panels

Read Other Related News

Scientists Create More Efficient and Durable Solar Cell

Flexible Solar Panels Could Revolutionize the Renewable Market

New Solutions for the Solar Market

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Scientists Develop New Flexible Solar Cell With Superior Performance to Silicon Solar Panels

The Latest Innovation Is From The Swiss Laboratory EMPA, Which Managed To Improve And Develop A New Type Of Solar Cell With Performance Superior To Silicon Solar Panels

Read Other Related News

Scientists Create More Efficient and Durable Solar Cell

Flexible Solar Panels Could Revolutionize the Renewable Market

New Solutions for the Solar Market

In the cold desert of Ladakh, where it hardly rains, engineer Sonam Wangchuk created the ice stupa, a tower that freezes winter water and stores it for irrigating crops in the spring, a simple engineering feat that mimics nature.

Libya built over 4,000 kilometers of underground pipelines to bring water from the Sahara to coastal cities in a project that the government itself called the Eighth Wonder of the World.

Chinese woman planted trees for decades while sand buried part of her house, received $5,000 from an American in 1999, and helped transform the desert into a forest of 8 million trees in China.

Desert sand, previously discarded for being too smooth for concrete, becomes an ecological brick in the United Arab Emirates, dispensing with Portland cement, curing at room temperature, and attempting to transform dunes useless for construction into raw material for a new arid engineering.

Almost 6,000 residents live concentrated along a single street nearly 9 km long in the interior of Poland. Houses form a continuous row, and behind them, narrow agricultural strips emerge, creating one of the most unusual rural patterns in Europe.

Described by astronauts as one of the most unlikely natural phenomena on Earth, the Okavango Delta spreads over up to 15,000 square kilometers in the middle of the desert and transforms Botswana into a living labyrinth of channels, islands, and flooded areas.

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