Cheaper, more efficient solar technology a step closer

A new study led by The Australian National University (ANU) could lead to cheaper and more efficient solar technology. Study co-author Dr Heping Shen from the ANU School of Engineering says the current solar cell market is dominated by silicon-based technology, which is nearing its efficiency limit. "In order to continue the transition to a renewable energy based economy, we need to keep reducing the cost of solar energy, and the best way to do that is to increase the efficiency of solar cells," Dr Shen said. "If we can have a cheap source of energy that is also clean - who wouldn't want to use it?" ANU engineers, in collaboration with researchers from the California Institute of Technology, have developed a way to combine silicon with another material (known as perovskite), to more efficiently convert sunlight into electricity. The key is the way the materials are joined together to form what's known as a 'tandem solar cell' - essentially one solar cell on top of another. The ANU researchers say theirs is one of the simplest ever developed.  "We have constructed a tandem structure that is unconventional.