The technology is based on silicon and is already commercially available.
According to the South China Morning Post, a team of Chinese scientists has created efficient, flexible solar panels that can be used on uneven surfaces because they fold like paper. According to the researchers, the revolutionary technology will find wide application in the aerospace industry, wearable electronics and portable power supplies.
What are the new solar panels made of?
In the last few years, advances in materials and manufacturing have led to impressive improvements in the efficiency of silicon solar cells. They now boast a light-to-electricity conversion rate of 26.8%, approaching the theoretical limit of 29.4%.
Silicon solar cells account for about 95 percent of solar cells used in the photovoltaic market. But thin-film solar cells are made from amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, organics, and perovskites. Their use is limited due to their low energy conversion efficiency and poor performance in large areas and unstable operating conditions.
According to Liu Wenzhu, a professor at the Shanghai Institute of Microsystems and Information Technology (SIMIT) Center for New Energy Technologies, his team has succeeded in creating an innovative structure for silicon solar cells.
The team began by actively and closely monitoring the silicon solar cells under the bend with high-speed cameras. The scientists discovered that cracking always begins with a sharp V-shaped groove on the edge of the silicon wafer, an area they describe as the “weak point.”
The scientists replaced the sharp V-grooves with softer U-grooves that effectively dissipate bending stress and help prevent cracking.
How reliable are flexible solar panels?
The researchers claim that their panels measure 60 micrometers and fold like a sheet of paper. They are also resistant to repeated bending with a radius of less than 5 mm and bending angles exceeding 360 degrees.
Scientists conducted strength tests under various conditions. The cells retained 100 percent energy conversion efficiency after 1,000 cross-bending cycles. They also retained 99.62 percent of their strength after thermal cycling from -70 degrees to +85 degrees for 120 hours.
By the way, according to Chinese researchers, the large-area flexible photovoltaic modules they have developed are already successfully used on spaceships. But practical implementation on mass production scale will still have to wait.
“Before large-scale production, additional testing is needed to ensure continued stability in real-life conditions where stress factors can occur simultaneously,” Liu Wenzhu told reporters.
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Source: Focus
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