International. Researchers from IMDEA Materials of the Community of Madrid, together with the University of La Rioja and the University of Alicante have achieved the record of energy efficiency in solar cells based on titanium oxide and prepared at low temperature, as an alternative to conventional silicon-based ones. The efficiency is 8.75%, the highest obtained to date in this type of solar cells, according to sources from these institutions.
Rubén D. Costa, from IMDEA Materiales, and Elena Lalinde and Jesús Berenguer, from the Organometallic Molecular Materials Group of the University of La Rioja (UR), and Javier García, Marisa Rico and Elena Serrano , from the Molecular Nanotechnology Laboratory of the University of Alicante (UA), are involved in this project.
IMDEA Materials researchers have managed to integrate these materials into the electrodes of solar cells that contain light-sensitive compounds and whose electrodes are prepared by low temperature heat treatment (low temperature solar cells, lt-DSSC).
In the case of the University of La Rioja and the University of Alicante, researchers have developed and patented the technology that allows the preparation of active titanium oxides under visible light for application in photocatalysis and solar cells.
The arrangement of a layer of the new hybrid material on an electrode with a mixture of commercial titania P25 Degussa and titania nanoparticles achieves an efficiency of 8.75%, the highest obtained to date in this type of solar cells. Until now, only 6.6% efficiency levels have been obtained.
Versatility and lower cost
This advance is an alternative to traditional silicon-based solar cells due to its lower cost, greater ease of processing and recycling, as well as its versatility.
These new cells that are prepared at low temperature respond to the need to replace glass substrates with flexible (plastic) ones of light weight, which are printable and adapt to any surface.
In this sense, the University of Alicante has published that they could function as small-scale power generation units for applications both inside buildings (electronic devices or lighting) and outside: car roofs, tiles of a building or their integration into clothing to supply energy to portable electronic devices, among other uses".
