Is There A Substitute For Silicone In A Solar Panel

Crystalline material could replace silicon to double efficiency of solar cells.

Is there a substitute for silicone in a solar panel.

In spite of this a typical 60 cell crystalline silicon solar module produced today contains up to 12 grams of lead. Scientists at purdue university and the national renewable energy laboratory have discovered how electrons move in a. A few promising new materials include dye sensitized solar cells organic photovoltaics perovskite solar cells and quantum dot photovoltaics. Researchers from the university of cambridge in the united kingdom and mit the national renewable energy laboratory and colorado school of mines in the usa have been hard at work coming up with a silicon alternative for solar cells given that silicon needs to have extremely high levels of purity and as such is very energy intensive to produce.

This lead is primarily found within the ribbon coating and soldering paste used. As a result there is a lot of interest in alternative photovoltaic materials. As of today silicon is the cheapest material for the production of solar photovoltaic cells. Commercial production of preskovite cells is yet.

Peskovite crystals which are naturally occuring look very promising as a cheaper alternative to silicon.