Three-dimensional solar cells are yet another front in the quest for high efficiency, low-cost solar cells. 3-D cells can capture nearly all the light that strikes them, greatly boosting the efficiency of photovoltaic cells while reducing size, weight and complexity. 3-D cells were invented in 2007 by researchers at Georgia Tech.
The cells created at Georgia Tech capture photons of light through "an array of miniature 'tower' structures that resemble high-rise buildings on a city street grid." Their most obvious benefit is that because of their tower structure, which enables them to trap light from many different angles, 3-D cells remain efficient even when the sun is towering overhead. That means that eventual 3-D solar panels would be able to efficiently create electricity from dawn to dusk, rendering the term "optimal sunlight" obsolete.
12-year old Oregon student William Yuan famously developed his own 3-D solar cell in 2008. The cell collected both visible and ultraviolet light. Yuan and Georgia Tech's solar cells both utilize carbon nanotubes, which allow the cell to distribute the photons they collect within the cell without losing them. In most cells, a good portion of the light collected is wasted as heat or simply passes through the cell.
3-D cells are still very much in their infancy, but research is exciting and ongoing.
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