A team from the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology presented white solar PV modules with efficiency levels over 10 percent.
Jordi Escarre Palou and his team from the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) in Neuchâtel presented white solar photovoltaic (PV) modules with efficiency levels over 10 percent at the ninth Energy Forum on Advanced Building Skins in Bressanone, Italy.
Palou said that in principle all the usual solar cells can be used to manufacture white PV modules. “We achieve the highest efficiency level through a combination of crystalline high-performance solar cells with a film treated using nanotechnology, which only filters a particular wavelength of light through to the cell and reflects the visible spectrum as a diffuse illumination,” he explained.
The result is a white solar module surface without a visible wafer structure; the module looks like a large white sheet of paper with a protective glass surface. the researchers emphasize that in addition to the architectural functions, these cells can be used in a wide range of consumer goods.