The 7 alternatives to silicon in the future of photovoltaics

    Innovation and research applied to photovoltaics is making great strides to find more viable alternatives to silicon and traditional photovoltaic panels. Here are the top 7 in our opinion

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

    A Peoplein province of Trento the study day ended just yesterday "The future of silicon in photovoltaics". Industry experts discussed this issue, assuming that the silicon it will still be the main material for at least ten years for the construction of photovoltaic panels, after which the development of new technologies to transform thesolar power in electric energy, could shift the focus towards other solutions or decrease their use. So let's try to understand what the alternative solutions not only to silicon, but also to the photovoltaic module itself at the base ofsolar power.





    Here are the seven proposals that seemed most valid to us:

    1. 1) Concentrated photovoltaics (o thermodynamic)

    2. The 7 alternatives to silicon in the future of photovoltaics
    3. It returns periodically after each announcement of technological progress, but still few are seen in the production phase and even fewer on the market (v. Beghelli concentrated photovoltaic). Yet the idea is as fruitful as it is simple, or so it seems: it is, as the name suggests, to "concentrate" sunrays about photovoltaic cells, or by means of mirrors, or by parabolas, or by following the movement of the sun, or in other ways. The fundamental problem is that the technology, to date, while being advantageous is not enough to compete with the traditional silicon photovoltaic.

    4. 2) Graphene

    5. The 7 alternatives to silicon in the future of photovoltaics
    6. In this case, it is a material that is still under study, but which presents characteristics that are nothing short of miraculous: semi-transparent, excellent conduttore electricity, very resistant (a hundred times the steel), flexible and, especially, PV. Needless to say, these features (and perhaps others that will be discovered in the future) could make the graphene which this year earned its "inventors" the Nobel Prize, a excellent substitute for silicon.

    7. 3) "Organic" photovoltaic

    8. The 7 alternatives to silicon in the future of photovoltaics

    9. It is now known by this name, but alternatively the term is also used biophotovoltaic. Definition aside, it is another of the promises of the future in solar energy, this time based on materials of vegetable origin or in any case "organic". The advantages are the availability e abundance of the materials themselves (therefore very low costs), but the main problem, still to be solved, is theinstability of materials, especially at high temperatures. Furthermore, the longevity of a "organic" photovoltaic cell it is still quite low.



    10. 4) Nanotechnologies

    11. The 7 alternatives to silicon in the future of photovoltaics
    12. Quite simply, all those proposals that are based on the design and construction of devices in dimensional scale less than a micrometer (between 1 and 100 nanometers). In the field of PV there are not many yet, even if some, such as the "antenna" one developed by MIT in Boston, have already traveled around the world.

    And so far, the four most important lines of research. Let's now pass, with the last three alternatives, to what are the most… extreme projects.

    1. 5) Photobioenergy

    2. The 7 alternatives to silicon in the future of photovoltaics
    3. It is an attempt to imitate that natural process it is called chlorophyll photosynthesis. In practice, it is one artificial photosynthesis, based on the same elements of true photosynthesis: water, carbon dioxide and the sun. For now, research is in its infancy, and perhaps the only serious project is the one developed by United States Department of Energy and from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who have developed a technology - also based on nanotechnologies - called “Watzburg Nanocapsules”.



    4. 6) PETE (Photo Enhanced Thermionic Emission)

    5. The 7 alternatives to silicon in the future of photovoltaics
    6. with this acronym we refer to the revolutionary photovoltaic cell developed by the engineers of Stanford University (California), which would make it possible to exploit not only the entire solar spectrum, but also the heat produced as a "waste" from the process. PETE cells would therefore be cheaper as they are more profitable in terms of power. However, while silicon is not required to manufacture them, these cells are based on other types of rare materials, such as gallium.

    7. 7) Conducting polymers

    8. they are none other than plastic materials capable of conducting electric current. Their use, in recent years, has also been tested on solar panels, with more or less encouraging results. In this sense, in addition to the study conducted by the engineer Yueh-Lin Loo of theUniversity of Princton, there are also those who have proposed a spray version of the polymers, to be applied to the window of the house ...

    And if this last alternative to silicon seems too much to you, know that there is also a eighteen year old Nepalese - Milan Karki - who made a solar panel costing about 30 euros using as a base material, guess what, the hair collected by his hairdresser!

    Roberto Zambon

     

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