Highest Ever Efficiency for Converting Sunlight to Electricity Reported

Converting sunlight to electricity is becoming more and more efficient over time. Now, scientists have managed the feat with over 40 percent efficiency, which is the highest ever efficiency reported.

"We used commercial solar cells, but in a new way, so these efficiency improvements are readily accessible to the solar industry," said Mark Keevers, one of the researchers, in a news release.

The new prototype relies on a custom optical bandpass. This part filters the sunlight that is normally wasted by commercial solar cells on towers and converts it to electricity at a higher efficiency than the solar cells themselves ever could. These filters reflect particular wavelengths of light while transmitting others.

This 40 percent efficiency is actually just the latest in a long line of achievements by the UNSW. Other accomplishments included the first photovoltaic system to convert sunlight to electricity with 20 percent efficiency in 1989.

"The new results are based on the use of focused sunlight, and art particularly relevant to photovoltaic power towers being developed in Australia," said Martin Green, one of the researchers.

In fact, power towers are already being developed by an Australian company. This will provide design and technical support for the highly efficient prototype. The new prototype could potentially be huge for the solar industry and may make renewable energy cheaper and increase its competitiveness.

The findings will be published in the journal Progress in Photovoltaics.

For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).