Dual-layer Solar Cell Sets Record For Efficiently Generating Power

Materials scientists from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have developed a highly efficient thin-film solar cell that generates more energy from sunlight than typical solar panels, thanks to its double-layer design.

The device is made by spraying a thin layer of perovskite -- an inexpensive compound of lead and iodine that has been shown to be very efficient at capturing energy from sunlight -- onto a commercially available solar cell. The solar cell that forms the bottom layer of the device is made of a compound of copper, indium, gallium and selenide, or CIGS.

The study's lead authors are Qifeng Han, a visiting research associate in Yang's laboratory, and Yao-Tsung Hsieh and Lei Meng, who both recently earned their doctorates at UCLA. The study's other authors are members of Yang's research group and researchers from Solar Frontier Corp.'s Atsugi Research Center in Japan.

 

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Yang and his research group have been working on tandem solar cells for several years and their accomplishments include developing transparent tandem solar cells that could be used in windows.

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