Transparent solar cell powers smartphone
Researchers in Korea have developed a transparent solar cell with back contacts that they used to power a smartphone.
The team at UNIST in Korea developed a new type of transparent solar cell and module with high efficiency and glass-like properties.
Professor Kwanyong Seo and his research team in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST developed an ‘all-back-contact’ (ABC) design that places all the components of the solar cell on the back. The 16 cm² crystalline transparent solar cell module has high efficiency ranging from 20% to 14.7% in transmittance while maintaining aesthetics similar to that of a single device.
The ABC design not only demonstrates high power conversion efficiency (PCE) in solar cells but also ensures unobstructed visibility through transparent solar modules. Notably, ABC–transparent c-Si solar cells achieved a peak PCE of 15.8% while maintaining an average visible transmittance of 20%. Through seamlessly interconnecting the unit cells, the output voltage and power were systematically tuned from 0.64 V and 15.8 mW (for a 1 cm2-sized unit cell) to 10.0 V and 235 mW for the 16 cm2-sized module.
The research team developed what it calls seamless modularization technology that eliminates gaps between devices without using metal wires. In the existing modularization method, the gap between devices and opaque metal wires have solved the problem of damaging the aesthetics of transparent solar cells.
It has also succeeded in charging a smartphone using natural sunlight. It also proved the possibility that a screen of a small mobile device can be used as an energy source.
“This study fundamentally solved the aesthetic problem of the existing solar cell modularization method through the design of the new device structure,” said researcher Jeonghwan Park and Research Assistant Professor Kangmin Lee. “It presented the possibility that transparent silicon solar cells can be used in various industries such as small devices as well as buildings and automobile glass.”
“We have opened a new path for modularization research, which is essential for commercialization of transparent silicon solar cells,” and added, “We plan to continue further research so that transparent solar cells can become a key technology in the eco-friendly future energy industry,” said Professor Seo.
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
