Photo Credit: McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University
A new application of liquid crystals has just opened up a whole new realm of solar energy technology, TechXplore reported.
To make more efficient solar panels that generate more energy, researchers are looking at new materials. A class of minerals called perovskites has shown promise.
Unfortunately, perovskites don’t perform well in large solar cells, only small ones. They get much less efficient when scaled up to a useful size.
Now, Doctors Yi Yang and Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin have published a paper that may hold the solution, according to TechXplore. To protect the perovskites from stress and improve their efficiency, Yang and Nazeeruddin proposed adding liquid crystals.
Specifically, they’re looking at the effects of thermotropic liquid crystals — those that respond…
