Researchers in Wales and Finland have developed a new analytical model for understanding how thin-film solar cells work, Phys.org reported. The breakthrough could have major implications in developing more ultra-efficient ways to harvest clean, renewable energy from the sun.
The existing model for explaining how current flows through solar cells, known as the Shockley diode equation, is nearly eight decades old — roughly as old as the first practical silicon solar cell itself.
The new model, from scientists at Swansea University in Wales and Åbo Akademi University in Finland, reveals a critical balance between collecting energy from light and minimizing losses due to recombination. It gives a more accurate picture of the thin-film solar cells that could be crucial to the future of the industry.
Their findings were published in the scientific journal PRX Energy.
“The traditional models just weren’t capturing the…
