Research breakthrough shines a light on solar panels

After a decade of work, a team of researchers has achieved a “breakthrough” that could make use of invisible light to make solar panels more efficient.

The team from the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory coated tiny particles with an organic dye, which greatly enhances their ability to capture near-infrared light and re-emit it as visible light.

In a similar way to human eyes only seeing the visible spectrum, solar panels often only absorb and convert a narrow section of electromagnetic radiation.

The dye-enhanced particles could be coated on panels to generate more energy, said researcher Bruce Cohen. “Since the near-infrared wavelengths of light are often unused in solar technologies, they raise the possibility of capturing a good portion of the solar spectrum that otherwise goes to waste, and integrating it into existing solar technologies.”

Experiments found a “symbiotic” effect between the organic dye and lanthanide metals in the nanoparticles. The team then re-engineered the particles to further amplify the light-converting properties. The particles are largely transparent, said the researchers, letting other usable light through.

Despite the progress so far, Cohen said some “roadblocks” remain before the particles can be used in practice. They are currently unstable and were studied in nitrogen to avoid exposure to air.

The study, which also involved researchers from the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology and Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, was published in Nature Photonics.