Ultraviolet solar cells

1999/10/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingeniaritza

The engineers at the University of Florida have designed a method to build extremely thin and inexpensive solar cells. These cells are 100 times thinner than the current ones of silicon and as they need less semiconductor material, they will also be cheaper.

With the new technology developed a very thin layer of semiconductor called CIS is placed in the pre-cooked stand, as in the glass. A layer of 2 or 3 microns (thinner than human hair) is enough. The performance of these cells is 18%, similar to the best silicon currently on the market, and they expect to be available for marketing in 10 years.