“One step closer to reality”

A team of scientists says they’ve flipped the script when it comes to how silicon interacts with light.

According to a press release, the UC Irvine-led team’s innovative technology enables ultra-thin silicon solar cells that could power thermoelectric clothing or enable onboard charging of vehicles and devices.

The journal ACS Nano published the study, which was conducted in collaboration with scientists from Kazan Federal University in Russia and Tel Aviv University.

The key for the team was not to change the silicon material itself, but instead to focus on conditioning the light to convert pure silicon from an indirect bandgap semiconductor to a direct bandgap semiconductor.

As an indirect bandgap semiconductor, “silicon’s optical properties are inherently weak,” commented Dmitry Fishman, the study’s lead author. The team used a method to amplify the momentum of photons.

“Photons carry energy but almost no momentum, but if we change this narrative explained in textbooks and somehow give photons momentum, we can excite electrons without the need for additional particles,” said study co-author Eric Potma.

The result of the additional dynamics was significantly improved light absorption and a huge increase in device performance. Potma announced that the method “increases light absorption by a factor of 10,000 and completely changes the light-matter interaction.”

Potma says innovation is urgently needed to make solar energy a viable clean energy source and slow the warming of the planet, which is having increasingly dire consequences.

Proponents of dirty energy sources such as coal and gas often point to the costs and shortcomings of current solar technology as arguments against adoption. While this view may be at odds with the progress that has been made, it does not mean that solar energy cannot make further progress.

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“The commercial solar panels we rely on are not enough,” Potma said.

The research team’s work is part of many efforts to increase solar energy efficiency, reduce costs, optimize silicon and explore cell alternatives.

Current efforts include coating silicon and perovskite, improving tandem solar panels, producing organic semiconductors, maximizing kesterite thin-film solar cells, and extensively utilizing perovskite as a primary material for solar cells.

Scientists at MIT are also working on ultra-thin solar cells, as are researchers in Spain. Ultimately, the hope is that thinner cells can provide more practical solutions for solar power in applications such as wearables and on-board vehicle charging.

The UC Irvine team was optimistic that their results could play a big role in maximizing solar energy by improving the light absorption of silicon.

Potma pointed out that the current thickness of silicon solar cells “not only drives up production costs, but also limits efficiency due to increased carrier recombination.”

“Thin-film solar cells, which our research brings one step closer to reality, are widely seen as a solution to these challenges,” Potma concluded.

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