Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient

[Meredith Poor + 871]

https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/metal-perovskite-solar-cells-vs-silicon-efficiency-550212/

Essentially, energy conversion is '250% more efficient'. If existing panels are about 20% efficient, then 250% of that would be 50%, so instead of producing 200 watts of electricity per square meter, they would produce 500 watts. Some perovskites can do better, so the conversion efficiency could be as high as 60%, or 600 watts per square meter.

Someone living alone in a one bedroom apartment might use 1Mwh per month, or 1000Kwh assuming an electric water heater and a heat pump HVAC. 1000Kwh / 30.5 days is roughly 33Kwh per day. 33Kwh divided by 5 hours of solar exposure per day is 6600 watts worth of solar panels. At 20% conversion efficiency, this would cover 30 square meters or 330 square feet. At 60% conversion efficiency, this would require 10 square meters or 110 square feet. A typical car is 6' wide x 15' long, or 90 square feet. At 60% conversion efficiency, this would be almost enough solar power to eliminate any need to 'charge up' from an external power source.

[turbguy + 1,293]

So...

Someday, to recharge your EV, you just let it set in full sunlight for a handful of hours.

...and avoid driving at night.

Edited April 10 by turbguy

[footeab@yahoo.com + 2,041]

Now if said perovskits did not DIE due to exposure to light or.....🤣

Edit: Fine I actually read it and no, it is not 250% increase... Rather it is one aspect of said solar cell over one small area can increase by 250% gain.  It is based on a wave function, so total area gained will be area under the curve of the sine function.  Not peak.  So, we are talking most likely about 30% increase(nothing to sneeze at).  Oh yea and it requires a noble metal like silver, gold, platinum, niobium. Good Luck on that one.  This is like fuel cells, they work wonderfully.... if only we had mountains of platinum....

Edited April 10 by footeab@yahoo.com

[TailingsPond + 247]

16 minutes ago, footeab@yahoo.com said:

Now if said perovskits did not DIE due to exposure to light.....🤣

In fairness most everything is damaged by exposure to sunlight.

Skin cancer, photo-oxidation of paint, plastics, etc.

[footeab@yahoo.com + 2,041]

1 hour ago, TailingsPond said:

In fairness most everything is damaged by exposure to sunlight.

Skin cancer, photo-oxidation of paint, plastics, etc.

Suggest you understand what the word, fairness, means before using it

[Paul-S + 8]

On 4/10/2023 at 12:25 PM, turbguy said:

So...

Someday, to recharge your EV, you just let it set in full sunlight for a handful of hours.

...and avoid driving at night.

Batteries work just as well at night. 

[turbguy + 1,293]

On 5/10/2023 at 6:26 PM, Paul-S said:

Batteries work just as well at night. 

Agree!

That said, if solar really gets good, why use batteries at all?

[Michael Sanches + 187]

On 5/12/2023 at 8:33 PM, turbguy said:

Agree!

That said, if solar really gets good, why use batteries at all?

What if the future of transportation is underground?

[Paul-S + 8]

On 5/12/2023 at 9:33 PM, turbguy said:

Agree!

That said, if solar really gets good, why use batteries at all?

Because SOLAR doesn't work in the dark. Batteries still do.

[Paul-S + 8]

On 5/23/2023 at 12:03 PM, Michael Sanches said:

What if the future of transportation is underground?

The part of transportation that is underground can still work with batteries, either on the transport or via wires feeding the power to the transport. Just like it always has. We have had trollies that travel through tunnels. Also, batteries work wherever they are.

[RichieRich$ + 64]

On 4/10/2023 at 8:41 PM, footeab@yahoo.com said:

Suggest you understand what the word, fairness, means before using it

It’s a certain probability that subjected to continuous sunlight / UV will destroy just about everything. Even with the continuous chemical alterations to the seal coat on vehicles, they have yet to figure out how to stop the destructive effects of sunlight/ UV.

No outdoor coatings have been developed to stop it.

[notsonice + 834]

It’s a certain probability that subjected to continuous sunlight / UV will destroy just about everything

7 minutes ago, RichieRich$ said:

It’s a certain probability that subjected to continuous sunlight / UV will destroy just about everything. Even with the continuous chemical alterations to the seal coat on vehicles, they have yet to figure out how to stop the destructive effects of sunlight/ UV.

No outdoor coatings have been developed to stop it.

It’s a certain probability that subjected to continuous sunlight / UV will destroy just about everything???? organic compounds yes....to slow down or stop  degradation from sunlight you add carbon black. Seal coats on cars are organic

For inorganic compounds it is oxygen that destroys by oxidation of the inorganic metal or compounds which changes the surfaces of the compounds, solid state diffusion between different compounds that changes the properties of the original compound and stress and thermal cracking resulting in defects/microcracking etc and lastly weather effects...especially moisture

 

UV degradation to solar panels all occurs in the first few weeks and it is in the tune of a few percent after the first few weeks it is a slow slow process IE Panels have about 70 percent of their original efficiency after 25 years.

Why are panels replaced??? better more efficient panels are coming out

Perovskite/silicon based dual panels ????? 40 percent plus....game changer.....the only question is if they can commercial produce the newest tech panels in  the next few years

[turbguy + 1,293]

9 hours ago, Paul-S said:

Because SOLAR doesn't work in the dark. Batteries still do.

It's just a matter of improving solar several orders of magnitude.  /s

[footeab@yahoo.com + 2,041]

9 hours ago, RichieRich$ said:

...they have yet to figure out how to stop the destructive effects of sunlight/ UV.

No outdoor coatings have been developed to stop it.

Uh... Heard of powder coating or any other product made from oxides?  Works just fine.  Why you do NOT buy most "paints" as they use Organic pigments instead of oxides.  Oxide colors are fairly limited.  If one limited your color selection it would last indefinitely.  Why Solar panels SHOULD be encased in silicone oxide(glass), but currently is only done on one side for the majority of panels with the other side being plastic out there which means they oxidize and die.  Perovskites do not just die to UV, but also oxygen very quickly.  It is not the UV light killing them exclusively.  Likewise Glass can be made to completely block UV light which would protect the Perovskites.  Double sided glass with the edges glass fritted should effectively last nearly forever.   II have seen a double sided solar panel with double sided glass but I was not able to get the guy who owned it to take the frame off so I could see if the edges were properly sealed with glass.  Anyone know?

Perovskites could be used(assuming they are not just falling apart without any interaction from the sun/oxygen)