Solar cells: Layer of three crystals produces a thousand times more power
The photovoltaic effect of ferroelectric crystals can be increased by a factor of 1,000 if three different materials are arranged periodically in a lattice.
This has been revealed in a study by researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). They achieved this by creating crystalline layers of barium titanate, strontium titanate and calcium titanate which they alternately placed on top of one another. Their findings, which could significantly increase the efficiency of solar cells, were published in the journal “Science Advances”.
Most solar cells are currently silicon based; however, their efficiency is limited. This has prompted researchers to examine new materials, such as ferroelectrics like barium titanate, a mixed oxide made of barium and titanium. “Ferroelectric means that the material has spatially separated positive and negative charges,” explai
New Solar Cell Innovation Provides 1,000 Times More Power
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Solar cells: Layer of three crystals produces a thousand times more power
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Ferroelectrics found extensive uses in industrial applications because of their unparalleled electromechanical and electrical characteristics, for example, as actuators, sensors and capacitors [1], [2].
The suitability of ferroelectrics for modern communication technology is currently investigated by researchers, including 5G [3] and as active layers in photovoltaics [4, 5] among other applications [6].
Ferroelectricity is the consequence of an alteration in crystal symmetry during a phase transition. A sudden electrical polarization is introduced by an off-centering of the center ion or tilting of ionic groups. The crystal forms domains of parallelly aligned polarization in order to reduce the electrostatic energy.
Without an external electric field, these domains are randomly oriented so that the macroscopic electrical polarization of the crystal stays fixed at zero (Figure 1a).