The market leader in solar power is the silicon solar cell. Over the past decade, its use has grown by 30% annually, spawning a $30 billion industry that produces 130 gigawatts of power every year — the equivalent of about 130 coal-fired power plants.
Chemical engineers at the Univ. of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) have developed a system that combines ubiquitous silicon solar cells with perovskite solar cells. The combined solar cell has a power-conversion efficiency 30% higher than that of an ordinary silicon solar cell.
A typical solar cell panel has a sheet of glass that allows sunlight to pass through to silicon semiconductor wafers layered below its surface. Their structure facilitates the conversion of light to energy...
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