this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2024
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203
Oxford scientists are generating solar power without panels (electrek.co)
submitted 2 months ago by ArtikBanana@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 62 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Sounds like it's still a solar cell though, they just figured out how to make it thinner and flexible. By the time you stack them into a cell, is there really any difference?

"By stacking multiple light-absorbing layers into one solar cell (known as a multi-junction approach), a wider range of the light spectrum is harnessed, allowing more power to be generated from the same amount of sunlight.

This thin-film perovskite material has been independently certified by Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) to deliver over 27% energy efficiency. It matches the performance of traditional, single-layer silicon PV for the first time."

[–] Shawdow194@kbin.run 43 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Wow though - 27% is no small feat

[–] Olap@lemmy.world 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

For sure. Coat buildings with this and we all win

[–] BlucifersVeinyAnus@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 months ago

And if they coat the insides too we’ll have free energy forever!

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (2 children)

27% is just matching the efficiency of current solar panels though.

So unless it's significantly cheaper there may not be a point here.

[–] ArtikBanana@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 2 months ago (2 children)

One of the main advantages here is that this can be applied to almost any surface because of how thin it is.

From the article:

We can envisage perovskite coatings being applied to broader types of surfaces to generate cheap solar power, such as the roofs of cars and buildings and even the backs of mobile phones. If more solar energy can be generated in this way, we can foresee less need in the longer term to use silicon panels or build more and more solar farms.

[–] Bookmeat@lemmy.world -4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Back of a cell phone won't work because people put those into bulky cases.

[–] Nutteman@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

Dang, too bad there aren't insanely smart engineers who have figured out how to make your little hand rectangle go brrrrr to figure out a way to make it work.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 months ago

So put it on the case with one of those wireless charging coils in the case, or at absolute worst, a tiny, tiny connector that plugs into your USB-C port

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world -5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

But if you have to stack the layers to get the 27% efficiency then it's no longer thin. :)

[–] ArtikBanana@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

It might not be as thin as before, but is several microns of thickness not thin?
It was nice if they gave more details about exactly how thick it is at 27% efficiency though.
I'll look around to see if I can find more information about it.

Edit: And by the way, I'm actually not aware of any 27% solar panels currently in production.
Other than the ones Ofxord PV has recently begun manufacturing (established by the same Prof. leading this research).

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Just quoting the article:

"from around 6% to over 27%, close to the limits of what single-layer photovoltaics can achieve today."

But I guess it depends too on how many layers we're talking about which isn't specified.

[–] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

You're misrepresenting what they say:

During just five years of experimenting with our stacking or multi-junction approach, we have raised power conversion efficiency from around 6% to over 27%, close to the limits of what single-layer photovoltaics can achieve today.

We believe that, over time, this approach could enable the photovoltaic devices to achieve far greater efficiencies, exceeding 45%.

"6% to over 27%" isn't the range of what they can achieve now. 6% efficiency was where the technology was at 5 years ago, and now they get 27%.

[–] YeetPics@mander.xyz 10 points 2 months ago

27% is the highest PV efficiency we have achieved with our first round of solar-electric generation. It has taken generations of reiteration to get there.

It's a really impressive feat for this new material to start at 27% efficiency. Of course it has drawbacks but everything does. I wonder if we'll be using perovskite based solar in 80 years

[–] Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If you can lay flexible material directly onto the roof, perhaps it can just be the roof, replacing traditional shingles.

It'll be expensive at first until it's in wide production, assuming it gets that far without a big flaw being found.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 months ago

Like Tesla's solar roof? Those replace shingles as well.

[–] sun_is_ra@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There is always a catch.

in this case I'll bet its the price

[–] CrimeDad@lemmy.crimedad.work 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Or a brand new set of DNA altering forever chemicals.

[–] KillerTofu@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Hooray!

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Does that mean we'll all become the Flash?

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

I’m guessing it’s more likely to be “the Flesh”.

[–] Thrashy@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Another perovskite hype piece. You'll know that they've got something that's commercially viable once they're making these sorts of efficiency claims and not omitting information about cell degradation.

[–] ArtikBanana@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 2 months ago

From the article:

Oxford PV, a UK company spun out of Oxford University Physics in 2010 by Snaith to commercialize perovskite photovoltaics, recently started large-scale manufacturing of perovskite photovoltaics at its factory in Brandenburg-an-der-Havel, near Berlin, Germany. It’s the world’s first volume manufacturing line for “perovskite-on-silicon” tandem solar cells.

https://doi.org/10.1039/D2SE00096B

By adapting the formulation and synthesis of the perovskite and the cell design and encapsulation optimization, Oxford PV succeeded in mitigating stability-related deficits and aims at providing future buyers of their modules with the industry-standard 25 year performance guarantee

[–] Wanderer@lemm.ee 1 points 2 months ago

Oxford PV this year no?

[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

We could generate solar power before we even had solar panels. You just used the sun to heat up water. Solar panels made solar power generation more effective.

[–] YeetPics@mander.xyz 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Nah, that's just solar collection.

The generation you're talking about happens in the star.

[–] Hule@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Well, that's older than water!

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

This will bring new meaning to the idea of a burner bag.