Solar Panel Breakthrough Captures Over 96% of Light
The great thing about solar panels is that they can last over 25 years without breaking. The bad thing is that's probably the last time there was a major breakthrough in solar panel efficiency.
Sure there have been quite a few 'breakthroughs' over the years that improve efficiency by 5 - 10%, but solar panels are still only about 40 - 70% efficient. That's about to change though.
Professor Shawn-Yu Lin and a group of scientists have developed a new way to manufacture solar panels... based on nanoscience, which are reportedly 96.21% efficient!
As I said earlier, most solar panels today are maximum 70% efficient so this is a huge breakthrough. This means that people could have 30% fewer solar panels and still generate the same amount of electricity. I'm sure these panels won't be hitting the market for at least a couple of years, but with the global green shift I think the price of these panels could come down quite fast and be comparable with todays panels.
Apparently this new type of solar panels is made of of titanium dioxide and silicon dioxide nanorods positioned at oblique angles. The purpose of these nanorods is to trap the light inside the panel and not let it escape.
Many people have opted for the suntracker type of setup where your panels constantly reposition themselves during the day so that they face direct sunlight as long as possible. With these new solar panels that's not required anymore. You could put them on the roof and they will absorb almost every single ray that hits them.
I wish I could get my hands on some, but sadly that probably won't happen for a couple more years.
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