Hardly a week goes by these days without a new solar panel technology development in the news. You would think the country was plastered in solar sheets with all the work currently being done. Let's hope the stories soon turn to how we're going to make this all affordable enough to support widespread installations. In the meantime, today's innovation. If you've been following our recent series of articles on solar cells, you've likely noticed the focus falls roughly into two categories: how to make the panels thinner, lighter and more flexible; and how to make the cells more efficient.
University of Delaware created a solar cell with over 40% efficiency and there are many other types of cells with efficiencies anywhere between 10 and 30%. Thin film solar cells and cells using organic dyes are the ones limited to low efficiency.
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