UW-Madison News Release--Tiny high-performance solar cells

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

8/3/16

CONTACT: Hongrui Jiang, 608-265-9418, hongrui@engr.wisc.eduÂ

DOWNLOAD PHOTO: https://uwmadison.box.com/v/solar-cells

TINY HIGH-PERFORMANCE SOLAR CELLS TURN POWER GENERATION SIDEWAYS

MADISON - University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers have created high-performance, micro-scale solar cells that outshine comparable devices in key performance measures. The miniature solar panels could power myriad personal devices - wearable medical sensors, smartwatches, even autofocusing contact lenses.

Large, rooftop photovoltaic arrays generate electricity from charges moving vertically. The new, small cells, described today (Aug. 3, 2016) in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies, capture current from charges moving side-to-side, or laterally. And they generate significantly more energy than other sideways solar systems.

New-generation lateral solar cells promise to be the next big thing for compact devices because arranging electrodes horizontally allows engineers to sidestep a traditional solar cell fabrication process: the arduous task of perfectly aligning multiple layers of the cell's material atop one another.

"From a fabrication point of view, it is always going to be easier to make side-by-side structures," says Hongrui Jiang, a UW-Madison professor of electrical and computer engineering and corresponding author on the paper. "Top-down structures need to be made in multiple steps and then aligned, which is very challenging at small scales."

Lateral solar cells also offer engineers greater flexibility in materials selection.

Jiang and colleagues are working to make their solar cells even smaller and more efficient by exploring materials that further optimize transparency and conductivity. Ultimately they plan to develop a small-scale, flexible solar cell that could provide power to an electrically tunable contact lens.

SEE FULL STORY AT http://news.wisc.edu/tiny-high-performance-solar-cells-turn-power-generation-sideways/
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-Sam Million-Weaver, perspective@engr.wisc.edu



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