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As an alternative source of energy posed to become one of the most cost-efficient during our century, solar energy is becoming cheaper every day. Some University of Toronto’s scientists have recently demonstrated that inexpensive nickel can substitute gold for one of the critical electrical contacts which collect the electrical current created by their colloidal quantum dot solar cells. According to the information presented in the July 12, 2010 issue of Applied Physics Letters, this means that it is now possible to reduce a solar cell’s cost by 40 to 80 percent.
Considering that about half of all sunlight is in the infrared wavelengths, most of which cannot be collected by silicon-based solar cells, quantum dot solar cells are a breakthrough in sunlight collection. Quantum dots are nanoscale bits of a semiconductor material created with low-cost high throughput chemical reactions in liquid solutions. These can be made to match the illumination spectrum as their properties vary according to their size.
Quantum dot cells, which can collect both visible and infrared light, at a power-conversion efficiency of up to 5 per cent, have been being developed by scientists at the University of Toronto. The same scientists are now continuing research in these solar cells to reach the 10 percent conversion efficiency before commercialization.
But research to build cheaper solar cells is widespread. The journal Applied Physics Letters, published by the American Institute of Physics (AIP) has reported that solar power could potentially be collected by using oxide materials containing selenium.
According to this report a team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, has embedded selenium in zinc oxide, which is a relatively inexpensive material. It was discovered that a small quantity of selenium dramatically increased the zinc oxide’s efficiency in terms of light absorption.
When it comes to solar power technology, if you come up with a new idea, it probably is already being researched somewhere in the globe.
The author has a website about solar power. You can visit it at http://www.getsolarquick.com
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Avoiding Solar Panel Problems
A solar panel is the heart of any solar panel system and is the critical component that is responsible for converting the sunlight into power in your home solar power systems. Even though solar panels for homes have gone through some amazing innovations in recent years, there are still occasional solar panel problems that many homeowners face with this technology. Some of these problems can be avoided if you know what to look for and take precautions before any of these solar panel problems affect your system.
More Durable
Older versions of solar panels were somewhat fragile and could suffer damage over the years while they were in use on a home. This damage would occur in a few different ways and would either diminish the amount of power that the solar panel could provide over time or destroy the solar panel completely.
Older Panels’ Solar Cells Were More Susceptible to Water
Most of this damage was caused by the solar energy panel enclosure allowing water from rain or snow to damage the sensitive solar cells inside the panel. If these solar cells were exposed to water, they would eventually fail and not be able to generate the power they once did. Because the average residential solar panel has a large collection of these solar cells, the panel would not fail outright, but would instead slowly start to generate less power over time. This is a problem for homeowners since it severely impacts the amount of power that your home solar power system produces. What made this even more complicated was the fact that your solar panel system has a number of these panels all connected together and if damaged occurs to one of them it was difficult to detect it. It was also very hard to determine which solar panel was damaged among all the solar panels in the system.
Solar Cells Last Longer
Another very common one of these solar panel problems was with these older panels experiencing the natural decay of the solar cells themselves. Older formulations that were used when making these solar cells deteriorated over time. As these chemicals broke down, the solar cells were able to generate less and less power. This meant that the older your panels got, the less power they could produce from the same amount
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of sunlight. Even though the solar energy panels were technically working, they could in some cases be generating less than half of the power that they did when they were new. This eventually led to replacing your panels long before they actually failed because of their diminished output.
Modern Panels Last Longer and Perform Better
Modern solar panels for homes don’t suffer from these early solar panel problems. They are built to be more durable and have solar cell formulations that will last for decades without losing their ability to generate power. The only problems that plague these newer panels are damage from the weight of snow in colder climates and the threat of being blown off the roof in areas with high winds. Both of these problems can be addressed through the proper mounting of your solar panels, which will minimize the chances of damage from these types of hazards. As long as they are mounted securely, your solar panel system should give you decades of use with little need for attention.
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