Cheaper Solar Panels On Their Way

Cheaper Solar Panels On Their Way
by Kevin Woodbridge
 
We live in a society where people are constantly looking for alternative energy. After hundreds of years of harming nature, people are finally paying attention to alternative energy, which will inevitably become an essential part of the future. There are many new developments in the solar industry, but presently there is something that will change the way we perceive solar energy. There is current  news that researchers are trying to develop cheaper panels for roofs. Recently two teams, one led by Oxford University researcher Henry Snaith and the other led by Northwestern University researchers Robert Chang and Mercouri Kanatzidis declared that they have successfully developed a new way of building solar cells that ultimately result in creating cheaper panels for solar power. This is an easier way of manufacturing these panels, and thus the price may decrease considerably. Since making this public declaration, their work has received more attention, and hopefully it will continue on this successful path.
The new recipe involves a mineral called  perovskite and it is the key ingredient in the fabrication of the solar cells. For a long time many researchers have been working with a mixture of lead and perovskite, however with this new recipe they are able to bend tin and perovskite which enables them to not only use cheaper materials but also carries less environmental baggage.
One of the first reports has been released to the public May 1st, 2014, when the team from Oxford University reported that they have successfully produced a tin-perovskite cell that is able to convert sunlight into electricity. Soon after this announcement a team led by Northwestern University researchers Robert Chang and Mercouri Kanatzidis  published a formal research paper on the discovery in the journal Nature Photonics. The results weren’t completely identical, however they had too many similarities between the two studies  that could not be ignored i.e. tin-perovskite mixture is the answer to the cheap solar energy. The only downside is that these  solar panels aren’t able to create high levels of solar energy and are thus far only able to convert  around 6 % efficiency of the sunlight into electricity, which is a small amount compared to the 35% efficiency  that has been accomplished with the regular solar cells. These 35% percent efficiency cells are far too expensive for the mass population, however are practical for demanding, large scale tasks, such as producing renewable energy for satellites.
These recent developments in the solar industry are promising, and they are just the beginning of something even more important. With renewable and innovated natural energy research and development booming, this is sure to be the beginning of more accessible and more efficient solar energy.  Making clean, reliable and renewable energy readily available to the population at large is a crucial for making a step collectively towards a cleaner and more efficient planet.  This recent solar news is a hopeful step in this direction.