An Indian-Japanese research team has reported a significant boost in the conversion efficiency of dye sensitised solar cells (DSSC) to 11.4%. To achieve this feat, the team have developed a new material a co-adsorbent.
This is the highest recorded and certified efficiency, breaking the record set about five years ago.
The work was carried out at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, and Japanese researchers and reported in the journal "Energy & Environmental Science" of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
DSSCs are easy to fabricate and utilise low-cost materials. It is emerging as an alternative to the first generation of silicon solar cells, which are expensive.
The IICT plans to develop new co-adsorbents with structural modifications to further increase efficiency to that of silicon-based solar cells and make them competitive, he told" Business Line."
Stating this, Malapaka Chandrasekharam, senior scientist at the IICT, said DSSC technology with its low fabrication costs will become a significant player in future large-scale solar energy conversion. Compared to silicon-based cells, the major advantages of these cells are — they are cheap, flexible and can be operated even under diffused light.
Source: Business Line
