Empa Develops World's Most Efficient Solar Cell

As we are pacing towards future, the traditional energy resources are drying up. Solar energy has turned out as a good alternative, but solar cells have got their limitations. First of all, current solar cells are not much efficient, secondly, it is costly to manufacture these high power solar cells. Scientists at Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology, have developed thin film solar cells that are supposed to overcome these limitations.
The new solar cells, developed at Empa's Laboratory for Thin Films and Photovolatics, have a record 20.4 percent energy conversion efficiency. The previous record was 18.7 percent. Ayaodhya N. Tiwari, the leader of the team, along with two PhD students, was able to modify the properties of CGIS layer that absorbs light and generate photo-current in solar cells. These new solar cells have also exceeded the highest efficiency mark for poly-crystalline silicon wafer-based solar cells.
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The cell efficiency is certified by Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy System. The film is thin, lightweight and flexible which makes it a good candidate for commercial applications  According to Ayodhya, these chips have the potential to enable low-cost solar electricity in future.
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