Low Cost Photovoltaics: How to Reduce Solar Cell Costs with Advances in Science

    Every hour, the Earth is invested with enough solar energy to meet the world's energy needs for a full year. This truth, which until recently no one knew, is today a certainty shared by most of the Western population. This is because progress in the field of renewable sources has gone hand in hand with the growing demand for clean energy, which in turn has aroused more and more public interest. A virtuous circle that, in recent years, has been increasingly reducing the costs of photovoltaic energy, while at the same time increasing the performance of solar panels and cells.



    He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

    Every hour the Earth is hit by an amount of solar power enough to satisfy the world energy needs for a whole year. This truth, which until recently no one knew, is today a certainty shared by most of the Western population. This is because the progress in the field of renewable sources has gone hand in hand with the growing demand for clean energy, which in turn has aroused more and more the interest of public opinion. A virtuous circle that, in recent years, has been reducing more and more the costs ofPhotovoltaics, while increasing the performance of the panels and solar cells.



    Password: reduce costs to produce solar panels. The paths are many. THE IBM researchers, for example, have developed a new type of solar cell more 40% efficient compared to traditional cells on the market.

    The materials used are zinc, copper, sulfur and selenium, elements so cheap as to make the technologies of impressed, spray or else finally competitive.

    Low Cost Photovoltaics: How to Reduce Solar Cell Costs with Advances in Science

    Also interesting is the low-cost solar cell developed by the Swiss scientist Michael Gratzel, a cell formed by a layer of nanoparticles in titanium dioxide immersed in a organic molecular dye, renamed Dye-Sensitized (sensitive dye). Outlandish invention? Perhaps, but in the meantime, its creator was awarded the prestigious one premio Millennium Technology

    Low Cost Photovoltaics: How to Reduce Solar Cell Costs with Advances in Science

    Altra cella low cost is the one developed by the team of scientists of Oxford University (plastics department) led by Dottor Henry Snaith. It is none other than a cell obtained with theoxide extracted from… toothpaste! That's right: the common toothpaste is the basis of this new technology "printed" on glass, and therefore also applicable to house windows.



    Low Cost Photovoltaics: How to Reduce Solar Cell Costs with Advances in Science

    And finally there is the Full spectrum solar panels, for an solar panel capable of capturing the entire spectrum of radiation emitted by the sun. The technology, based on the gallium nitride, is being tested at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of American Energy Department.

    In short. The possibilities to reduce the costs of solar cells are endless, and the future of photovoltaic energy looks increasingly… bright!

    Roberto Zambon

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