Crystal panels for photovoltaic power generation

NREL researcher David Moore shows a sample solar panel painted with a crystal-laced ink. Golden, Colo. — Two recent innovations are boosting prospects for a new type of solar-energy technology. Both rely on a somewhat unusual type of crystal. Panels made from them have been in the works for about 10 years. But those panels had lots of limitations.

Multi and single crystalline are largely utilized in manufacturing systems within the solar cell industry. Both crystalline silicon wafers are considered to be dominating substrate materials for solar cell fabrication.

The first generation of the solar cells, also called the crystalline silicon generation, reported by the International Renewable Energy Agency or IRENA has reached market maturity years ago . It consists of single-crystalline, also called mono, as well as multicrystalline, also called poly, silicon solar cells.

During the past few decades, crystalline silicon solar cells are mainly applied on the utilization of solar energy in large scale, which are mainly classified into three types, i.e., mono-crystalline silicon, multi-crystalline silicon and thin film, respectively .

Two recent innovations are boosting prospects for a new type of solar-energy technology. Both rely on a somewhat unusual type of crystal. Panels made from them have been in the works for about 10 years. But those panels had lots of limitations. New tweaks to their design might now lead to better and potentially less costly solar panels.

Scientists in Germany have engineered a major leap forward in solar panel design by devising plans for ultra-thin solar panels that are up to 1,000 times more efficient than conventional silicon models. The key is a new crystal-layering technique that could drastically change how we harvest energy from sunlight.