Solar panels at the dawn of the technological revolution?

Researchers Stanford University For the first time the formation and evolution of poles have been discovered. Behind this invention, it may seem trivial to the general public, and may be far from our everyday concerns, perhaps hiding a revolution for tomorrow’s solar panels.

To fully understand the significance of this discovery for the scientific community, we must begin by understanding what it is. The poles are, most scientifically, the fractures of the fastest atomic lattice, and here we are talking about the time scale in the order of one trillion (1000 billion) per second. They occur when a moving electron interacts with the atomic object around it.

The polarization theorized in the 1930s by Lev Lanza, one of the greatest physicists in Soviet history, has always gone unnoticed at the center of many scientific debates. The intermediate event made their observation almost impossible and Stanford researchers needed to mobilize a powerful X-ray laser to see these small distortions.

50 times more deviation than expected

Faced with the problem of experience, it is necessary to choose the right material. In order for the distortion to be as visible as possible, the electrons had to pass through a very fine atomic field. So, behind this barbaric name, this choice fell on the hybrid lead Perovskite, which is a metal alloy that is widely used in solar panels and has the advantage of being crystallized at the atomic level.

When you hit an object with light, Like what happens in a solar cell, electrons begin to move, Explains Brooke Kuselturk, head of an experiment Communication. When they interact with matter, the poles “freeze” the electron so that it travels as smoothly as possible through the atomic network.

During the observation, American university scientists observed the poles at a size of 5 billion centimeters. If this seems small to us, at the atomic level it is 50 times higher than the results researchers expect at Stanford. In a crystallized metal such as perovskite, such a deflection pushes ten layers of atoms outward (as shown in the animation below). This observation lasted approximately 0.01 billion per second.

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– Vacuum module, LLC (acVacuumVolume) January 6, 2021

Creating tomorrow’s solar panels

In a classic photovoltaic group today, hybrid lead perovskite is often used. Inexpensive, it is an excellent electricity when struck by the sun’s rays. It is one of the only products to be surpassed by Silicon (25%), with the best return rate (about 22%).

With this first observation of poles, the challenge now is to understand how they are formed and what their role is in solar cells. For a decade, Perovskite was used in solar panels, the latter not really understood.

Year by year, its revenue ratio has improved and polarization may be entirely a factor. As is now known, to further improve the revenue ratio of Perovskite, they will be scrutinized. The idea is to create the most profitable solar panels in order to increase their power tenfold. Today at a rate of 22%, the installation of 10 MC2 solar panels will produce 2.5 to 4 kW per day. We can imagine that this number will double or triple in the coming years.

In France in 2019, solar represented 2.2% of the country’s electricity generation, compared to nearly 11,300 gigawatts this year. It is less than air (6.3%) or gas (7.2%).