Princeton’s Solar Cell Design Nearly Triples Solar Cell Efficiency The sun has enough energy to supply our current energy needs for at least a few more billion years. Sadly, modern silicon and indium-tin-oxide-based solar cells are approaching the theoretical limit of 33.7% efficiency meaning that a lot of the energy from the sun is simply lost as residual heat.  Enter Stephen Chou and his research team. By utilizing sandwiched plastic and metal with a nanomesh, they have developed a “Plasmonic Cavity with Subwavelength Hole array” or “PlaCSH”  solar cell which substantially reduces reflectivity and the capture of light which is not being reflected.  This PlaCSH is not only up to 175% more efficient than conventional solar cells but could potentially be cheaper if mass produced as they are missing the ITO element (the transparent conductor in your average solar cell) and utilising a nanomesh instead. We’re still await a major breakthrough in alternative energy sources over the next few decades, but projects like this have a lot of potential to make solar power a sound investment for the future. 
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Princeton’s Solar Cell Design Nearly Triples Solar Cell Efficiency

The sun has enough energy to supply our current energy needs for at least a few more billion years. Sadly, modern silicon and indium-tin-oxide-based solar cells are approaching the theoretical limit of 33.7% efficiency meaning that a lot of the energy from the sun is simply lost as residual heat. 

Enter Stephen Chou and his research team. By utilizing sandwiched plastic and metal with a nanomesh, they have developed a “Plasmonic Cavity with Subwavelength Hole array” or “PlaCSH”  solar cell which substantially reduces reflectivity and the capture of light which is not being reflected. 

This PlaCSH is not only up to 175% more efficient than conventional solar cells but could potentially be cheaper if mass produced as they are missing the ITO element (the transparent conductor in your average solar cell) and utilising a nanomesh instead.

We’re still await a major breakthrough in alternative energy sources over the next few decades, but projects like this have a lot of potential to make solar power a sound investment for the future. 

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