TU/e researchers increase efficiency of nanowire solar cells to 17.8 percent

Researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology have developed solar cells based on nanowires with an efficiency of 17.8 percent. With this they break the record of the Swedish Lund University, which stood at 15.3 percent.

The solar cell based on nanowires was made in the cleanroom of the TU/e. The nanowire cell is constructed from a kind of lawn of wires with a thickness of 200 nanometers. As a kind of antenna, these nanowires collect light, concentrate it and convert it into electricity, TU/e ​​describes. The thickness determines the degree of concentration, discovered TU/e ​​researcher Dick van Dam, who will receive his PhD on Monday for research in the Photonics and Semiconductor Nanophysics department of the Faculty of Applied Physics.

The advantage of solar cells based on nanowires compared to traditional solar cells with solid layers is that the potential efficiency is higher: 46 percent compared to 34 percent. According to Van Dam, something still needs to be done to achieve this, 20 percent would be feasible within a few years, but 25 percent should actually be achieved to make the technology competitive with traditional solar cells.

Another advantage of the nanowire technology is that the cells can be produced relatively cheaply and that little material is needed, which means that there is less chance of material defects that lower the energy yield. To further reduce costs, scientists should not use indium phosphide as the material for the nanowires, as is currently the case, but silicon.