Click here to sign in with or
Solar panels often get a bad rap for spoiling the appearance of homes and businesses. Yet, this may be about to change.
A research group has fabricated a highly transparent solar cell with a 2D atomic sheet. These near-invisible solar cells achieved an average visible transparency of 79%, meaning they can, in theory, be placed everywhere—building windows, the front panel of cars, and even human skin.
Scientists have long sought to develop transparent solar cells, but the suitable materials have not existed thus far.
To make the solar cell, the team controlled the contact barriers between indium tin oxide (ITO), one of the most widely used transparent conducting oxides, and a monolayer tungsten disulfide. They coated various thin metals onto the ITO and inserted a thin layer of Tungsten Oxide between the coated ITO and the tungsten disulfide.
"The way in which we formed the solar cell resulted in a power conversion efficiency over 1,000 times that of a device using a normal ITO electrode," said Toshiaki Kato, corresponding author of the paper and associate professor at Tohoku University's Graduate School of Engineering.
The group's efforts did not stop there. They also explored how their solar cell can be expanded for use in an actual solar panel.
"We discovered the appropriate design modifications needed to avoid an unexpected voltage drop that accompanies increasing the device area," said Kato.
Details of their research were published in the journal Scientific Reports. Explore further Semi-transparent and flexible solar cells made from atomically thin sheet More information: Xing He et al, Fabrication of near-invisible solar cell with monolayer WS2, Scientific Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15352-x Journal information: Scientific Reports
Provided by Tohoku University Citation: Researchers fabricate highly transparent solar cell with 2D atomic sheet (2022, July 19) retrieved 12 August 2022 from https://techxplore.com/news/2022-07-fabricate-highly-transparent-solar-cell.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form. For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines).
Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request
Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors.
Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.
Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Tech Xplore in any form.
Daily science news on research developments and the latest scientific innovations
Medical research advances and health news
The most comprehensive sci-tech news coverage on the web
This site uses cookies to assist with navigation, analyse your use of our services, collect data for ads personalisation and provide content from third parties. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.