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Oxford scientists are generating solar power without panels (electrek.co)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] -5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 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).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 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%.