Solar cells, where are they?

The Autonomous University of Zacatecas works in the improvement of semiconductor materials of broad bandwidth to, besides providing the characteristic of the transparency to a solar cell, that this is a means to improve its efficiency.

 

Looking for transparency in solar cells is a challenge that scientists from various parts of the world have addressed in recent years. The main objective is to increase the efficiency of the material and to open a large area of opportunities to deploy solar energy in a non-intrusive way, that is, to ensure that the user does not perceive that the energy use surfaces are there.

This is the case of the Autonomous University of Zacatecas (UAZ), where the Doctor in science and materials engineering José Juan Ortega Follow it works in the improvement of semiconductor materials of broad bandwidth. He says:

"There are a lot of ways to increase efficiency in a solar cell, our proposal is to expand the range where you can absorb the radiation. This region of the spectrum is commonly lost and not exploited; We are developing from the basic science a transparent solar cell that absorbs in this region and that can be adhered to a conventional solar cell for, in this way, to take advantage of the energy that we receive from the solar radiation and with This increase the efficiency and conversion of a cell. So our purpose is that the transparency feature is a means to increase efficiency. "

The materials currently working on your equipment are broad-bandwidth semiconductor oxides, features that prevent them from interacting with light in the region of the visible — rainbow colors — but with light in the ultraviolet region, which is the region of Higher energy from solar radiation. Then, solar cells or joints, are zinc oxide (ZnO), which is a common use oxide, so common that most solar creams are made with it thanks to its ability to absorb light in the region of ultraviolet.

With the development of this material also open possibilities of incursion in the industry, for example, forming panels in colossal structures placed on the windows, as could be the skyscrapers, or, in screens of devices that require Energy for optimal performance, something essential in smartphones and tablets.

The project in 2017 was registered with the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) in 2017 and is pending its patent. However to take it to a commercial use, to say the Doctor follow it, "we lack the budget to continue doing tests and thus improve and optimize it. We hope that at some point the country's policies will allow us more support or ease to create technology and reinforce education, as this would really revolutionize a major impact on society. "