IBM scientists are developing solar cells with conventional materials. Researchers at the Advanced Materials journal publishing papers that can use conventional materials, a relatively efficient way of manufacturing solar cells. Such cells can be 9.6% of the solar energy into electrical energy, photovoltaic conversion efficiency higher than 40% of today’s technology.

This conversion efficiency is much higher than the silicon cells available in the market, and even comparable to the efficiency of thin-film solar cells. IBM use of conventional materials to manufacture the solar cells, such as copper, zinc, tin, sulfur, or selenium. IBM said that the existing solar energy technologies used in the rare material limited its development.

Solar companies announced that they made use of cadmium and tellurium thin-film batteries. GE also plans to begin selling early next year, cadmium telluride material batteries. Some small companies like Nanosolar, Miasole and HelioVolt in the production of copper, indium, gallium and selenium compounds solar cells made of alloy material.

IBM scientists Teodor Todorov, Kathleen Reuter, and David Mitz that the above-mentioned shortcomings of the battery is to use either the raw materials are scarce, or impact on the environment. This means that these batteries  ThinkPad T40 battery , ThinkPad T41 battery need to consider the environmental costs. IBM TJWatson Research Laboratory Thomas Theis, director of physical sciences, said: “Other equally efficient material contained in either very expensive or impact on the environment, or not much room to further enhance the efficiency, which makes their commercial and large-scale universal access has become difficult. ”

Compared to conventional batteries, the advantages of thin-film batteries is to use the material is relatively small. IBM solar cell can be used to produce high-speed manufacturing techniques, such as “rolling Manufacturing Technology” (roll-to-roll manufacturing). U.S. National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy researcher Matthew Beard participated in the IBM research project, this technology will be a “breakthrough.”

Scientists expected that if the technology can achieve a breakthrough, get 12% of the photoelectric conversion efficiency, resulting in economic costs to completely replace the existing solar energy products FRU 92P1137 , FRU 92P1139 , FRU 92P1141  .
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